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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Six: Vantage Point makes the difference > Vantage Point, Protestant Cemetery, Silver Reef, Utah, 2006
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09-FEB-2006

Vantage Point, Protestant Cemetery, Silver Reef, Utah, 2006

If ever there was a perfect example to demonstrate the principle of photographic vantage point, this is it. Normal people might think it odd to find someone sprawled in the dirt of a cemetery, but then expressive photographers are not considered normal people. We see in abstract and incongruous ways, and it often requires vantage points such as this one to make our cameras see as our eyes and minds see. The photographer getting dirty here is pbase artist Tim May. ( http://www.pbase.com/mityam ) Tim and I have made photographs together in New Mexico, San Diego, Mexico, Yosemite, the Sierra, Laos, and we were together for this shot as well, part of a week long joint exploration of Zion National Park and the Mohave Desert. There is an old saying in photography: “where you stand determines what you will say.” In this case, Tim may not be standing, but his image will almost certainly have something to say about the final resting place of one William Shelton. He also gave me a chance to make this shot, which turned out to be not only a powerful reminder of the importance of vantage point, but also a strongly incongruous picture in its own right.

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Phil Douglis13-Jul-2006 04:43
I am sure Tim will enjoy knowing that you see him as "getting in touch with parallel beings beneath him," here, Doria. He was so involved in in what he was shooting here that even if a soft voice from below told him to shoot this in black and white because it would be more ghostly, he would have never heard it.
Doria11-Jul-2006 00:44
It's almost as if he he also getting a "feel" for the parallel beings beneath him.
Phil Douglis26-Jun-2006 17:58
I think this would be a fitting metaphorical end for any serious photographer, Kal. What a way to go out, doing what you love and doing it well.
Kal Khogali26-Jun-2006 13:26
Lying infront of a tombstone...a metaphorical end...great. K
Phil Douglis22-Jun-2006 22:03
Well said, Xin. I am sure Tim will be delighted as well. We both know Ken, having worked with him in the Mohave.
His words are all so true. Too many people think that if they only can buy a new camera, particularly an expensive one, that somehow they will make "better pictures." But in the end, it is the eye and the mind and the heart, not the electronics, that make expressive images.
Sheena Xin Liu22-Jun-2006 21:52
"Photography is the power of observation, not the application of technology."
When Ken Rockwell made above remarks, I think he meant the photograhper in this image and the one outside the frame who captured this image.
Phil Douglis12-Mar-2006 02:50
He thought it more appropriate to leave his comment under one of the images he was making from his special vantage points. You can see it athttp://www.pbase.com/mityam/image/56229094 , Mia.

(This will be my last comment I will post in my cyberbook for about a month, Mia -- I leave tomorrow for China, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan to make many new images for my cyberbook. I hope you will enjoy them as much as I enjoy making them and posting them here. I look forward to your comments. -- Phil, 3/11/06 )
Mia 11-Mar-2006 23:44
Why didn't your friend Tim comment on that one?
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