photo sharing and upload picture albums photo forums search pictures popular photos photography help login
Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Twenty Three: Stirring emotions through atmosphere and mood. > Nightfall, Williams, Arizona, 2007
previous | next
06-AUG-2007

Nightfall, Williams, Arizona, 2007

Williams was once a featured stop along the old US Route 66 highway. Bypassed by Interstate 40, Williams survives by hosting visitors bound for the Grand Canyon just sixty miles to the north. I photographed this evening street scene using one of its many tourist stores as my subject. Its large window is festooned with lights that reflect on the rear window of a parked car, while its photos nostalgically recall the Old West. I waited until an abstracted figure entered my frame and made him the focal point as he passed through it. The lights, colors, and abstraction combine to intensify the nostalgic mood conveyed by this image.

Leica V-Lux 1
1/50s f/3.6 at 59.7mm iso100 full exif

other sizes: small medium large original auto
share
Phil Douglis16-Jan-2009 02:34
Thanks for being aware of the elements that trigger the expression in this image, Cyndy. There is a lot of information in it, but I've tried to make everything in the frame work to communicate the mood and atmosphere of this town.
Guest 15-Jan-2009 07:05
I'm always amazed at your timing and composition, Phil. This image is so rich with elements, layers, and interpretation. It's also pleasing to look at!
Phil Douglis19-Aug-2007 18:50
Thanks, Jenene -- Route 66 exists largely in the imagination, and I wanted the atmosphere and mood of this small town to stimulate memories of that road and its time. I let light and color and abstraction do the job here.
JSWaters19-Aug-2007 04:30
I feel as if I'm watching a scene in a movie here, Phil. The living, breathing memory of Route 66.
Jenene
Phil Douglis15-Aug-2007 23:04
Memories come in many modes, Rose Marie. The old prints, as you note, are memories as well. Thanks for making this observation -- it adds another dimension to this image.
sunlightpix15-Aug-2007 22:23
I like the sign in the upper right that says "Memory Cards". In the 21st century it refers to digital storage for photo images, but it can also refer to the sepia prints on the walls.
Phil Douglis15-Aug-2007 16:22
He represents everyone who walks these streets, both yesterday and today. Timeless, indeed.
monique jansen15-Aug-2007 06:22
I like the abstracted, timeless figure in the midst of this crowded frame
Phil Douglis14-Aug-2007 22:42
Thanks, Patricia, for your reminiscence. That's what nostalgia is all about. I saw the diagonal reflection of the window's decorative lighting in the car window immediately. Route 66 is all about cars, and I had to have one in the image to go with that glowing neon shield. And then I waited for a person that I could abstract to bring it all together. I was going after the mood and atmosphere of a small Route 66 town at night, and this photograph does it for me.
Patricia Lay-Dorsey14-Aug-2007 20:00
I'm intrigued by what you've chosen--obviously with great intention--to include here. Especially the car. I probably would also have waited so I could have a person in the frame, but a car? Or more accurately, the front windshield of a car? I doubt I would have gone there.

But it works, not only expressively, but compositionally as well (love diagonals!). To me as viewer, the car evokes memories of road trips taken as a child. Those endless miles crammed in the backseat with my two sisters, trying not to get into their space and not wanting them in mine. No seatbelts back then (the 1940s)!

And the neon Route 66 sign is perfect. Everyone's got feelings about that, even if they've never gone near it. The lighting is perfect here as well. Just enough so the tacky tourist pictures & wood-paneled walls show up, but not too much that the man would get more attention than he needs or deserves. This is not about him but about the feelings on a road trip, the nostalgia for times past.

Good example of this topic, Phil.
Phil Douglis12-Aug-2007 01:26
You are right -- nostalgia is a human value. And I tried to make that point here. Your image is nostalgic as well -- Route 66 was traveled, and is remembered, by humans.
Tim May11-Aug-2007 23:36
Again here we are immersed in nostalgia. This reminds me of one of my images http://www.pbase.com/mityam/image/25948790 . I like the added detail in yours and shadow of the man which humanizes the nostalgia - but then, again, I suspect nostalgia can't exist without humans.
Type your message and click Add Comment
It is best to login or register first but you may post as a guest.
Enter an optional name and contact email address. Name
Name Email
help private comment