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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Forty: Expressing the force and beauty of moisture in motion > Lower Falls, Yellowstone River, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, 2006
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29-SEP-2006

Lower Falls, Yellowstone River, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, 2006

The traditional view of this magnificent waterfall is a spectacular vista incorporating the falls into a landscape depicting the Yellowstone River valley itself. (I have made my own version of that image -- you can see it by clicking on the thumbnail at the end of this caption.) This is a more abstract version, emphasizing the sheer force of the sheet of falling water as it plunges past the golden cliffs into the mist shrouded river below. I shoot at 1/250th of second, which replicates what the eye itself would see. It is not a fast enough shutter speed to freeze detail, as in the previous image, nor is it a slow enough speed to blur the fall of the water. I extend the focal length of my lens to over 500mm by reducing the number of megapixels in the image, which crops the image tightly, creating a pressure packed frame that vibrates with energy.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ50
1/250s f/5.6 at 74.6mm iso100 hide exif
Full EXIF Info
Date/Time29-Sep-2006 09:40:20
MakePanasonic
ModelDMC-FZ50
Flash UsedNo
Focal Length74.6 mm
Exposure Time1/250 sec
Aperturef/5.6
ISO Equivalent100
Exposure Bias-0.33
White Balance
Metering Modemulti spot (3)
JPEG Quality
Exposure Programprogram (2)
Focus Distance

other sizes: small medium large original auto
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Phil Douglis23-Nov-2008 20:14
Thanks, Dave -- I agree that rock and water caress each other here. What a wonderful metaphor you have introduced by seeing a heart in that rock. The image pulses with life, just as a heart. And a heart is a universal symbol of linkage -- and that is exactly what nature does with rock and water here.
Dave Wyman23-Nov-2008 04:05
Phil, there's something else here for me, beyond what you and the others have described. The spray seems to be rising up to softly contain and veil the colorful rock wall to the right. Deciding where the boundaries of rock and water are is impossible to discern.

The spray, too, seems to be recapitulated by the shape of the rocks in the middle of the scene. And those rocks not only frame the view of the waterfall and the spray, they contain them. Perhaps I anthropomorphize too much, yet he waterfall seems to be embracing, with its spray, the colorful wall next to it. In fact, the outline of the rocks almost looks like the outline of a heart.
Phil Douglis03-Nov-2006 19:50
Your analysis of this image coincides with my own intentions, Zane. Thanks for enjoying the tension created by the torrent of energy contesting the frame that encloses it. I also agree that the waterfall is the clearly the subject and the rocks and frame the context. As for clarity in defining primary and secondary subjects, I agree that it is always an important consideration. When subject and context become ambiguous, the viewer must work harder to seek meaning. (That's not always a bad thing -- there are times when ambiguity is the point of a picture.) But in general, I would agree that we should stress the subject by emphasizing it in some way.
Zane Paxton03-Nov-2006 19:16
A brilliant image! I love the sense of movement here and how that is contained within the frame. The weight and motion of the water is palpable and then ones eye whooshes up and around in the curve to the right and back to the waterfall. Here meaning (the story) and visual composition merge into an eloquent expression.

On clarity: Here there is no doubt as to what the primary and seconday subjects are. The primary is the waterfall and the canyon is the secondary. That clarity is important always, but here it especially reinforces the powerful forces at play.
Phil Douglis31-Oct-2006 17:26
Thanks for likening the golden rocks to a theater. Now that you mention that, I seem them as the stage, and the waterfall as the actor. And you right -- this is all about scale, isn't it?
JSWaters31-Oct-2006 15:19
This image hisses and pops and crashes and slaps with the force of that waterfall. The scale is enormous, yet the golden rocks create an intimate theater for the spectacular show. The simplicity in coloration only adds to the drama of the abstraction.
Jenene
Phil Douglis27-Oct-2006 20:56
A beautiful way of seeing it, Tim -- pressure wanting to escape. What I have done here is to concentrate on the impact of the water, and it is this concentration that builds that presssure. Thanks for feeling it.
Tim May27-Oct-2006 20:31
I like the sweep of spray that edges along the rock - the pressure wants to escape.
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