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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Thirty-Five: How style and interpretation combine as expression > Luminosity, Haynes, Arizona, 2006
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20-MAY-2006

Luminosity, Haynes, Arizona, 2006

In last of this series of eight images I made while working with my tutorial student in Haynes, still another stylistic theme emerges: luminosity. An image full of light, particularly light that comes at us out of darkness, is rich in interpretive potential. In this image of well-worn outdoor advertising, there is also the suggestion of translucence. We can’t be sure if the light is reflecting off the large ad or coming through it, which adds to its symbolic content. The strident ads may extol the virtues of such products as fly-traps and beer, yet we no longer see this image as a story of selling. Instead, we sense the ebb and flow of light and shadow, muting the sales voice, and instead incongruously speaking of ugliness made into nostalgic beauty.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ30
1/160s f/5.6 at 10.1mm iso80 full exif

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Phil Douglis07-Jun-2006 05:22
Thanks, Iris and Jack for your comments. Junk is the residue of life, and it often carries poignant meaning. To make art of it requires some form of abstraction, in this case luminosity.
Guest 07-Jun-2006 03:17
Wonderful lighting, backlighting, layering, color, it has it all!! Just a powerful abstract painting for me with a subtle commercial graphic.
Iris Maybloom (irislm)07-Jun-2006 00:02
Phil, When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Your "junkyard photos", whether it be Haynes or Barstow (Rt.66), remind me of this aphorism. You are able to take one person's junk and make it into art.
Phil Douglis01-Jun-2006 18:39
Thanks, Celia, for sharing your feelings about this image with me. As you must recognize by now, luminosity is still another facet of my photographic style. I love to make images that glow, expressing energy, vitality, and often translucence, such as in this photograph. I am not looking for subject matter itself here. Rather, I seek luminosity as my subject. Its expressive force carries the subject along with it.
Cecilia Lim01-Jun-2006 15:47
Ooops! Typo error - " I meant GHOSTLY voice of the past..."
Cecilia Lim01-Jun-2006 14:25
You are right Phil! There is an amazing luminous quality here that we wouldn't expect in a large solid-looking object like this - an incongruity right there! I'm not sure what this sign is made of, fabric perhaps, but the dirty patches of brown and red looks just like rust. The Budweiser name is big and bold, but brown like rusted metal - all of which suggest something solid and strong. Yet the loudness and brashness of this ad has begun to fade. It has become transluscent, fleeting in the light into a ghoslty voice of the past...
Phil Douglis28-May-2006 05:00
Great to have your comment, Christine. It as a joy to share these opportunities with you here in Arizona. Photography means "writing with light" in Greek. That's what I tried to do here. You are so right -- the sun never lets us down in Arizona. Thanks for sharing it with me.
Guest 28-May-2006 04:36
Phil, We got plenty of image opportunities like this one that afternoon. They just needed to be captured. The ever present Arizona sun never failed us, ensuring that amazing luminosity. That "junkyard museum" was a treasure chest. This is a proof.
Christine
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