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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery One: Travel Abstractions -- Unlimited Thought > Flute player, Madagascar, 2002
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01-DEC-2002

Flute player, Madagascar, 2002

I used backlighting to conceal identity, allowing you to fill in the details for yourself.

Canon PowerShot G2
1/640s f/4.5 at 18.8mm hide exif
Full EXIF Info
Date/Time01-Dec-2002 11:40:36
MakeCanon
ModelPowerShot G2
Flash UsedNo
Focal Length18.8 mm
Exposure Time1/640 sec
Aperturef/4.5
ISO Equivalent
Exposure Bias
White Balance (-1)
Metering Modematrix (5)
JPEG Quality (6)
Exposure Program
Focus Distance6.120 m

other sizes: small medium large original auto
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Phil Douglis21-Aug-2010 18:41
Thanks, River King, for seeing and feeling the mood of this image. It was one of my favorite images from our morning visit to Madagascar. I made it eight years ago, with one of my first digital cameras -- the Canon G2. It works then and it works now, proof that it is not the camera that makes the image, but the photographer. The fuss about the leaves in the previous comments here is irrelevant to the ideas the image itself expresses. Those leaves layer the image, giving it dimension. Calling the leaves a distraction is missing the point of the exercise here -- this picture is a demonstration of abstraction, and not only is the silhouette of the flute player an abstraction, but the silhouetted leaves are also an abstraction. They represent the tree, rather than describing it.
Guest 21-Aug-2010 17:17
Phil, I like this picture a lot! If I was in an anxious mood, looking at this picture would quickly calm myself down and switch to the "thinking" mood... I could spend quite sometime just looking at this picture (as always your photos are not only just "viewable" but "thinkable"). I do agree earlier comments that the branch on top right corner is a little bit distraction at the first, but seriously, after looking at the picture for a while, that distraction became very insignificant.
Phil Douglis16-May-2006 19:28
I just noticed this comment, almost a year after it was posted by guest Anna. I think she gives us a perfect definition here of how abstraction can work to create symbolic metaphors that express ideas and meaning. A belated thank you for your thoughtful words.
Anna 12-Jun-2005 03:32
The first thought that came to me was solitude. The man has gone into a world of his own. I think it had to do with how the majority of his body became a simple and graceful black form...that's like the depth of his mind. The way his back reflects the blueness of the ocean...it's like part of his thoughts. In his mind, he's savouring the essence of the ocean's blue, and the essence of the place, rather than the physical scenery with its more complex textures and colours. I hope that made sense.
Phil Douglis14-Dec-2004 22:49
Thanks, Mikel, for supplying your own story here. That is the ultimate purpose of abstraction in expressive photography -- to set the stage and then let the viewer make of it whatever he or she wants.
Guest 14-Dec-2004 22:40
A fisherman wresting under al tree in a warm day and smoking his pipe. Fishing is a hard job even in this loveley cobalt blue watters and doesen't give much money, but there is always a moment to wrest and see things from an other perspective, with filosofy listening to the rumor of the watter and the thin breeze of the see shaking the leafs of the tree. marvelous photo.
Guest 01-Dec-2004 17:48
For once, this image is self explanatory. Really beautiful shoot.
Phil Douglis19-Nov-2004 19:58
Yes, AMP, I guess you call this picture sad -- because of the slumping head and the darkness of the backlighted figure.
AMP19-Nov-2004 10:03
Sadness.....The mightiness feels sorrowful from the image.I hear he is playing a song that comes from the home town.I know him at remember fondly the someone.
Phil Douglis11-Nov-2004 21:44
Thanks, Nut. Hope you learn something from this exercise.
nut 11-Nov-2004 20:21
Well, I minimized to check level of layer on this photo. And I know why you put these leaves
inside this frame.
Phil Douglis11-Nov-2004 19:04
I get your point, Nut. You made the picture small, and the leaves became small as well, so you do not notice them as much and they no longer bother you. That's good -- because I am not taking them away.
nut 11-Nov-2004 17:09
"I am bother on this leaves anymore"
This is an incongruous sentence or not? Answer no, it's wrong in English grammar very big.
Ok, at least I can communicate. After minimized this photo, I am agree about these leaves.
Phil Douglis09-Nov-2004 19:31
I can sleep well tonight. Nut is no longer bugged by my leaves! Glad you have come to that conclusion.
nut 09-Nov-2004 07:07
Well, I came back and checked many time. I got it. I am bother on this leaves anymore.
Phil Douglis09-Nov-2004 05:43
The difference between understanding the principles of expressive photograph and actually taking such pictures yourself can only be resolved by putting a camera in your hand and going to work. It means lots and lots of shots, and learning from your failures. In digital imaging, you will see what you've done immediately. If a layer is missing you can move your position until you find one and put it in. And see if it works. It's a learning process, Nut.
nut 09-Nov-2004 04:46
Yeap, I saw five layers there. And I do understand why you have to add layers on your photo.
But I don't know how to take photo in that way.
Phil Douglis09-Nov-2004 04:24
Layers, Nut, can add both perspective and meaning to an image. In this case, the leaves add a measure of depth. It helps change the two dimensional image, by implying a third dimension. If the leaves were not in this shot, this image would look more flat. If the leaves did not exist, I would have backed up and added something like a like another boat or log or object in the foreground. A layered image often has information in the foreground, middle ground, and background, each of which adds meaning. As in this shot:http://www.pbase.com/pnd1/image/35604506. Do you see the layers?
nut 09-Nov-2004 02:52
How many method you use to make this photo more deeply? The reason to add more layer
is to make this photo become more reality right? If these leaved are not existing, what will you
do to make the depth in this photo?

Leonardo da Vinci painted Mona Lisa with two layers perspectives to bring up her portrait out
of frame. So it's the same reason to add one layer on this photo. Am I right?
Phil Douglis30-Oct-2004 22:48
I saw the relationship between the flute player and those leaves differently than you do, Nut. As I said, I put them there to add a layer to the foreground of the image and imply a bit more depth to the picture. You see them as a distraction. We agree to disagree on this one.
nut 30-Oct-2004 11:12
I do not mistake about leaves. I knew that you want to add them in this photo. It's too big to
make a mistake. But leaves in your photo took my concentrate away from flute player. That's
why I feel something bother me.
Phil Douglis29-Oct-2004 22:07
Thanks Nut, glad you like the music. You can almost hear him playing. i left the leaves at the top right in the picture to add, as Ray observed earlier, a "framing element" -- they add vitality and depth to the image. If I crop them off, we are left with only ocean. I think what might be bothering you here is that you feel these leaves are a mistake, a distraction. If I am going to include leaves at the top of the picture I should have perhaps backed away and gotten even more of them in, so that you would know it was not a mistake. Thanks, Nut, for this criticism. It will make me, and anyone else who takes the time to read this, think more about the amount and placement of the leaves I might choose to include in future pictures.
nut 29-Oct-2004 18:34
Which song he make? I like this, but I don't like many leaves on the top right. But I don't
know how to make this photo better without them.
Phil Douglis26-Apr-2004 20:27
Glad you picked up on the sensuality of this image, Jill. You can indeed hear the music, feel and perhaps smell the ocean breeze, and yet I've abstracted it to the point where you can't really see this man -- you can only imagine him.
Phil
Jill26-Apr-2004 20:01
One of my favorites. I could imagine sitting close listening to the music carried by soft ocean breezes. Intoxicating scents and imagery.
Dianne 25-Mar-2004 05:37
I like the way man playing the flute is in the shadows. But what I really appreciate is that there is enough light for one to see texture in the man's shirt and the side of the boat.
Phil Douglis11-Mar-2004 22:25
That's what shadows do, Lara. They almost always bring into the play the imagination of the audience.
Lara S11-Mar-2004 22:02
Gorgeous and I do like what you did with the shadows. It does make you wonder about him.
Phil Douglis27-Sep-2003 19:22
Thanks Ray, for spotting that distraction. It is perfectly legitimate to either crop or remove such small distractions from travel images with Photoshop. I have done so, and as you suggest, it iimproves the picture.
Guest 27-Sep-2003 19:00
Phil, I love everything about this image except one thing: the peeking branches near the middle of the top. They're not significant enough to be a framing element, unlike the denser chunks peeking from the top right corner. Therefore, IMO, they're a tad distracting.
Phil Douglis02-Sep-2003 03:04
I note your comment on this image, and want to thank you once again, Denise, for letting me know how much you liked it. Once again, I was lucky on this one -- the fellow was just sitting there playing on a flute. The backlighting was ready-made for the shot.
Denise Dee01-Sep-2003 22:06
gorgeous. thanks, denise
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