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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Forty-Three: When doors, arches and gates express ideas > Blue door, Essaouira, Morocco, 2006
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11-DEC-2006

Blue door, Essaouira, Morocco, 2006

Without this blue door, this image could not have expressed the point at hand. A frail man looks away from us, towards a door rich in symbolism. It is as if he is longing to enter, yet he makes no move to do so. The sun throws an oval glow on the door, a shape that echoes the curves of both his cane and cap. The glow invites him in, yet he remains still. The door is battered, symbolizing the hard knocks of life. Perhaps this is the ultimate message here – we can’t always get we want.

Leica V-Lux 1
1/400s f/6.3 at 48.3mm iso100 full exif

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Phil Douglis16-Jan-2007 20:38
Thanks, Azlin. It is even possible that this door could be seen as the entry to the next life. You indicate that when you said the light falling on the door seems to indicate a brighter, better place.
Azlin Ahmad16-Jan-2007 09:56
It seems he's speculating, but you are right in that the message seems to convey a sense of longing. The light falling on the door seems to indicate a brighter, better place, and in addition to longing, the man's contemplative posture indicates patience as well. Lovely image, Phil.
Phil Douglis12-Jan-2007 19:43
Thanks, Shirley, for seeing blue as relating to thought. And thanks, Tim, for noting the scars on the door as a mark of life. That was my intention. And thank you, Jenene, as well, for seeing the glow illuminating the man as well as the door, giving him a quiet strength of character. In making this image, I was hoping for a range of interpretations such as these.
JSWaters12-Jan-2007 19:29
It feels as if there is a connection between this man and door, although we may not know what that connection is. The glow illuminates not only the door, but the man as well, giving him a bit of the comfort others may find beyond the threshold. He is resigned, I think, to acceptance. One hand cradles his chin while the other holds his cane so gracefully. He seems not overtly proud, yet he undeniably possesses a quiet strength of character.
Jenene
Tim May12-Jan-2007 17:46
I see a relationship between the orangish scars on the door and the color of the man's garment it as if his life has left a mark on the door. I am not sure if he had been able to enter - but me must have tried.
Shirley Wang12-Jan-2007 14:14
The blue color adds to his deep thought.
Phil Douglis11-Jan-2007 20:17
What a wonderful series of thoughts, Zandra. One again, one of my images has sparked your rich imagination to see things in this image quite beyond my own intentions for it. I saw the battered door and the old man as simply metaphors for a hard life. You see the image as about the transitions all of us make as we move through life and told us why. You put the image in a new frame for me. Thanks, as always, for your thoughtful, enthusiastic, and illuminating ideas.
Guest 11-Jan-2007 19:32
Just as Decisive moment, Marrakesh, Morocco, 2006 triggered my imagination so does this image. Here however we dont have the contrast of mobility vs imobility but rahter the other way around. An imobile door and an imobile man. However, in this shot they complement eachother. Again, it is the play with light and shadows that makes the shot. How the old man sits in the shadow gazing at teh light falling on to the door...as if reflecting over his own life. In a way, thsi is the oposit from your shot with the leaping boy. This man seem to be more reflecting over memories and life that was. Content but als accepting his coming og age and wisdom. He is in a transition phase, briliantly potraied by the way you have caught him between the light. The light on his sholder and arm - his youth, the face in the shadow - his present and gazing out on the light of the other side- his future. We all go from young boys/girls full of enlightened life to men/women shadowed by the difference experiences of our life to fianlly go beoynd the border and leap in to another light...
Phil Douglis11-Jan-2007 19:14
When I made this image, I thought of so many of your own images, Kal, similar in mood and meaning, if not in form.
Kal Khogali11-Jan-2007 14:40
Love the image and the light, but also the hidden hand on the cheek...this is a man in deep thought. K
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