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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Forty-Four: Photographing human response – gesture, body language, and expressions > Man in blue cart, Essaouira, Morocco, 2006
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11-DEC-2006

Man in blue cart, Essaouira, Morocco, 2006

I saw this man sitting in a blue cart next to a blue door, lifting his hands to his face as if in prayer. His gesture is one of those that could have a number of potential meanings. He might have been saying a morning prayer. Or perhaps he was just thinking. Maybe he was sleepy. We will never know, and that is the mystery of this photograph. This was how I found him and this was how I left him. I leave it to my viewers to interpret the gesture in any way they wish.

Leica V-Lux 1
1/800s f/8.0 at 13.3mm iso100 full exif

other sizes: small medium large original auto
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Phil Douglis26-Jan-2007 19:28
Thanks, Mo -- that's the point. Deciding what he is doing is really left to you. That's what expressive imagery does -- it asks the viewer questions and lets the answers come from their own imaginations.
monique jansen26-Jan-2007 17:11
Blue on the wheel, blue on the cart and blue on the door. Brings unity to the image. No idea what the man is doing? Might be praying, mourning, thinking...
Reminds me a little bit of my own man with carthttp://www.pbase.com/trevvelbug/image/70906542
Phil Douglis22-Jan-2007 04:40
Thanks, Dandan, for pointing out the relationship of the prayerful hands to the distribution of light in this image. It does seem as if his prayers have been answered. Thanks, too, for noting the role of the blue color here -- the blue tones hold this image together since they move across the entire frame as well as from front to back. It is always delightful for me to read your commentary on my images.
Guest 22-Jan-2007 00:56
I love the blue cart, blue doors. A common color is seen in that region. I also like the man came out of the shadow, like his prayer is answered…
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