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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Fifty Two: implying motion by using expressive blur > Chains, City Market, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, 2008
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10-JAN-2008

Chains, City Market, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, 2008

This jewelry saleswoman had few customers – she passed the time inspecting the products she was selling. It was fairly dark inside the big indoor market building, forcing me to use a slow hand-held shutter speed of 1/10th of a second. That slow speed works to my advantage here. Her gaze is firm and constant, yet the chains are elusive, in constant motion. Another expressive tool here is the light coming from a window on the left side of the frame. It illuminates not only her face, but the moving chains as well, making them sparkle and dance.

Leica V-Lux 1
1/10s f/3.6 at 32.6mm iso100 full exif

other sizes: small medium large original auto
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Phil Douglis07-Feb-2008 20:20
Fleeting, indeed. That is probably why she was doing this -- to catch the light and make these necklaces appear more ephemeral -- and hence, more desirable. (I am sure that if you had brought that $15 Rolex from the lady across the way from her, that, too, would prove to be a somewhat fleeting pleasure!)
Tim May06-Feb-2008 23:40
This is so much a metaphor for so many of the markets we visited. The humans concentrating on their wares and the fleeting quality of so much of what they were selling.
Phil Douglis19-Jan-2008 20:49
Good point, Mo -- wealth can come and go, in a flicker. Just like this.
monique jansen19-Jan-2008 09:52
It is as if the jewelry is trying to do a disappearing act - reminding us of the fleetingness of fortune
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