Black on black, Hot Lake, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, 2006 photo

Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery One: Travel Abstractions -- Unlimited Thought > Black on black, Hot Lake, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, 2006

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27-SEP-2006

Black on black, Hot Lake, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, 2006

A huge black raven perched on a mirror on the door of a black truck makes for an abstract and incongruous wildlife adornment. The driver, who quickly rolled up his window when the big bird took this perch, makes no secret of his patriotic inclinations – his vivid American flag decal, along with the blue sky reflected in the mirror, offers the only color in this image. (This raven is looking for handouts, which are prohibited in Yellowstone.) There are some photographers that would have routinely fired flash at this bird to “bring” out its feathers. My own approach is quite different. I never use a flash. I exposed on the white clouds in the mirror with my spot meter in order to make both the truck and bird a lustrous black. The resulting abstraction leaves much more the viewer’s imagination, and makes this image more expressive than a literal description.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ50
1/500s f/8.0 at 55.4mm iso100 hide exif

Full EXIF Info
Date/Time	27-Sep-2006 11:55:57
Make	Panasonic
Model	DMC-FZ50
Flash Used	No
Focal Length	55.4 mm
Exposure Time	1/500 sec
Aperture	f/8
ISO Equivalent	100
Exposure Bias	-0.33
White Balance
Metering Mode	multi spot (3)
JPEG Quality
Exposure Program	program (2)
Focus Distance

other sizes: small medium large original auto

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Phil Douglis		26-Apr-2018 17:31
Thanks, Merri. Black is not always black. It's all about surfaces, reflection, and light. The raven absorbs light, while the surface of the truck reflects light. And that is what you are seeing here. I never use flash in my photography -- it is artificial light, and I prefer natural light in all of my own work. I included the flag as a symbolic contrast here -- the concept of "country" means nothing to a raven, and while the decal shouts at us, the raven ignores it.

Merri		25-Apr-2018 05:58
I love that you didn't use the flash (as I have done with my raven photos) to get that iridescence. His feathers "eat" the light in contrast to the pearl black of the vehicle behind him. And that spot of blue reflected further abstracts the photo while the flag pushes back in a way that makes me go "What?"

Phil Douglis		24-Aug-2007 23:20
To get any reaction from a teenager over a photograph is astounding. Glad he reacted as he did. It tells us something about the universal impact of abstraction, whether he realizes it, or not.

Guest		24-Aug-2007 21:10
My 12-year-old was looking over my shoulder while I contemplated this image. "Oh, cool," was his response. When I asked him what he liked about the photo, he couldn't come up with a specific reason. He just really liked it. A HUGE compliment from someone who's not impressed by art or photography (at least not mine).

Phil Douglis		24-Aug-2007 05:30
Thanks, Cyndy -- black on black is one of the most exciting juxtapositions photography offers. Depending upon how the light falls, and how we choose to expose the image, we can adjust the degree of abstraction to either hide or reveal information as we choose. And yes, this is an image of many layers, and open to many interpretations, as the comments here demonstrate. But in the end, it comes down to a study of black and black. The instant the black raven flew over to the black truck, I knew I had the makings of an expressive image using black on black abstraction as my key element.

Guest		23-Aug-2007 23:13
So many layers to this image...I'm afraid I wouldn't have had the forethought to expose it as black-on-black. You are fast on your feet in interpreting your images, Phil. The flag and reflection of the mirror really add another dimension to this.

Phil Douglis		04-Aug-2007 18:41
Thanks, Patricia, for sharing your thought provoking views on this image with us. And thanks, too, for bringing additional context to it by sharing the quote from Poe.."and the raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting.." You come away with a powerful political metaphor from this image, building on symbols such as the flag, the SUV, the bird, and the blackness. You bring your own nationality to bear upon it as well, all of which makes you view it perhaps quite differently from the other commentators here, who not only come from America, but from Malaysia, China, Sweden, and Poland as well. As you can see from the title of this gallery, abstraction produces unlimited thought. And that was my intention of going black on black here. Thanks for taking it as far as you did, Patricia.

Patricia Lay-Dorsey		04-Aug-2007 16:21
This is the most pungent of all the images I have yet seen here. It plunges me into my feelings of antipathy for the American flag and the horrors that are being committed in its name. I am American by the way. It sent me to reread "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe and to come away from that powerful poem with one phrase--"And the raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting..."--in my mind. So here is that black raven, returned not to perch on a "pallid bust of Pallas" but instead on the rearview mirror of an American SUV. "Nevermore. Nevermore." Yes, expressive travel photography when done with such intentionality--even instantaneous intentionality--can speak volumes to those who are listening. I commend you greatly on the technical choces that led to this shot. I will never forget it.

Phil Douglis		08-May-2007 15:58
Thanks, Alina, for this beautiful interpretation. You read the sky in the window as a metaphor for our planet, and the black bird's tail casting the shadow of war upon us. And yes, we do manage to scare away our wars eventually. As for your last suggestion, perhaps you are also seeing the raven as a potential war protestor? Wonderful.

Alina		08-May-2007 14:10
The sky in the mirror looks like our blue planet. Black bird is covering almost half of it like wars cover half of the world. Good thing is the man will scare the raven sooner or later and the sun will shine again. One quick note for the owner of that flag: “Keep it high next time”.

Phil Douglis		07-Feb-2007 19:36
Glad this image awakens such memories in you, Ceci. It was a special moment for me -- to photograph a raven is one thing, but to photograph one in such a context as this, was a gift of fate. And thank you as well, Zandra, for revisiting this image once more, and defining it for us as a metaphor merging the past, present and future. I am thrilled that this image can spark so many imaginations in so many wonderful ways. That was my intention, and that is what expressive photography is really all about.

Guest		07-Feb-2007 06:29
Seeing this magnificent bird, using its intelligence to try and get handouts from people in a park, and brave enough to come so close, reminds me of the crows that we have lived with in our family, and of their supple, inventive and amazing smarts. We like to say that you haven't quite lived till you've been in close proximity with a crow; the same can be said for this much larger cousin. This is a phenomenal shot, one that filled me with warm and happy memories.

Guest		12-Jan-2007 18:58
Indeed i can very well imagaine this Raven as an Indian spirit staking the claim on it's legecy. Ravens are mythologial birds, present across stories around the world. Perhaps ot os their picth blac colour and sad wisdom which makes them so profound in our mythology. In a way, this pictures bring these two "worlds" together. The modern world and the world only know to us throuigh stories told by our encesters. Passed on from mother to child, father to child. To finally come to rest, as this bird has, in the modern world. A world were there is litle time for story telling in front of open fires. Where children have their stories told by television, dvs and videogames. However here, the two worlds are merged together. Reminding us of the importance of the past as well as the importance of the future. Going along these tracks i can imagaine the bird being the symbol of the past. The car with it's flag being the symbol of the present and the sky reflected in the mirror as teh symbol of the future. It is a future we can not see with our own eyes, and therfore we are only given a glimps of it by its reflection. However, having that reflection beibg a part of the present(the car) also shows ut the importance of what we do today and how that will indeed reflect upon the future.

Phil Douglis		12-Jan-2007 18:26
Ravens are also major players in Native American mythology as well, Zandra. Indians lived here in Yellowstone, and suffered here as well. Perhaps this raven, perched on a car bearing the American flag, is an Indian Spirit, staking a claim to its own legacy hear. Now you have my own imagination up and rambling?

Guest		12-Jan-2007 17:16
This could speak volumes if only taken the time to examen it and let the thoughts run it's own course. For me, The black Raven has a special meaning. It is part of our old mythology and stories of our ancient gods. The god of over all gods, Oden, had two black Ravens sitting on his shoulders. He sent them out to retrive information on what is hapening in the world...the all seeing eye. The name of the two birds were Hugin and Munin. Munin represents the present and Hugin the future. Which one is it that has turned its back on us here? Still watching us with the one all seeing eye, about to take off to let the higher power know waht goes oin in teh world or what needs to be done. What stories will it tell. Will it speak of war and starvation...or does it marely sit there to calmly overlook at different much brigher scene. Perhaps a laughing child and a loving mother. Perhaps he is not condeming by turning his back, only letting us go our own way and take responsibilty of our own actions. Or is he indeed saying...i am turning my back towards your actions...i do not wish to see what you do to this world...

Phil Douglis		18-Nov-2006 20:28
Thanks, Jen -- surreal is a good word for this relationship. I can't see the driver however -- are you imagining him there? But the glint in eye of the raven is important -- it does make it seem as if the raven is challenging the man locked up behind his tinted windows and flag here.

Jennifer Zhou		18-Nov-2006 14:19
I love your approach Phil! A raven, a black truck, a human inside it, an Amerian flag, a piece of bright sky, they are making a surreal combination. Your eyes are so sharp to capture this incredible moment. I love the way you bring out the light from the raven's eye, it echoes the light reflected from the driver's sunglasses. One is determined and brave, while the other one seems in a panic.. For me, this black creature seems to challenge our human and trying to take over and to be the ruler of the world.

Phil Douglis		11-Nov-2006 19:45
Thanks, Theodore. Glad to help. If I had used the default evaluative metering system, the camera would have tried to make all that black into gray. And I wanted black on black., because that is the point of the picture. The spot meter is selective metering -- a form of painting with light. I use it all the time.

Guest		11-Nov-2006 11:11
Brilliant. I never really understood what spot metering's for.

Phil Douglis		28-Oct-2006 19:15
Thanks, Tim, for adding a potential political point of view here. The bird does seem to turn its back on the flag and on us, as if it does not want to particularly identify with either.

Tim May		28-Oct-2006 16:38
I react to the interplay of the Raven and the flag - this is a political image to me - I can almost hear the Raven saying, "Nevermore."

Phil Douglis		27-Oct-2006 06:57
Thanks, Christina, for sharing your views on this with me. Yes, a flash would have destroyed the point I was trying to make -- black on black, pure abstraction. The flag and the blue sky shout at us, while the raven vanishes into the metal.

Squared C		27-Oct-2006 05:51
I love that you didn't use the flash here. That's right up my alley of shooting. Unfortunately I think that I would have taken too long to get the right exposure and lost the shot. That happens frequently. But you managed this quite nicely. The splash of the blue sky is really what caught my eye at first and makes the shot something special.

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