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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Five: Using the frame to define ideas > Theatregoers, Amsterdam, Holland, 2003
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02-MAY-2003

Theatregoers, Amsterdam, Holland, 2003

I combined two different framing principles to make this photo of people gathering in the street outside of Abraham Tuschinski's famed 1921 Art Deco cinema. I used the "stage-setting" approach, featuring the theatre's ornate marquee as a nostalgic backdrop and enlivened it with the flow of contemporary pedestrians and theatregoers on the left and right flanking the man in the center. I also used the frame within a frame concept here, treating the marquee as a frame in itself to give a sense of depth to the image.

Canon PowerShot G2
1/160s f/4.0 at 14.6mm hide exif
Full EXIF Info
Date/Time02-May-2003 15:07:17
MakeCanon
ModelPowerShot G2
Flash UsedNo
Focal Length14.6 mm
Exposure Time1/160 sec
Aperturef/4
ISO Equivalent
Exposure Bias
White Balance (-1)
Metering Modematrix (5)
JPEG Quality (6)
Exposure Program
Focus Distance65.540 m

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Phil Douglis07-Mar-2006 03:30
Lisa -- I post my images to demonstrate the principles of expressive travel photography. This one shows you how to use your frame to set the stage, and make the image when all of the players find their moment.
Lisa 07-Mar-2006 02:26
hmm, I like this but i was looking through them all and i have to say this isn't your best one but very good work.
Phil Douglis06-Jan-2005 20:44
Thanks for the comment, Dandan. Glad you learned something about "stage setting" from the picture. This is also a good example of the "frame with the frame" concept.
Guest 06-Jan-2005 08:52
I saw this type of scene from time to time…I remember the last time was at Niagara Falls, there is this very nice looking theatre door, I really wanted to take a picture of it, but there were too many people around, When I looked through the viewfinder, I couldn’t even find the focal point of the image… I have no idea that you could set a stage and let the passengers to be the actors… I’ll see if I could practice this technique…
Phil Douglis18-Dec-2004 00:29
Good point, Jen. The color not only unites the elements within this frame, but it carries the eye from the bottom of the picture, up the red steps, and into the frame within the frame beneath the marquee.
Jennifer Zhou28-Nov-2004 14:37
Not only the frame works well but also the color. I notice there is red carpet in the middle and red-shoes man on the left, girl in red on the right. Indicating people here have similar interestes, and also makes the separated groups into one!

Jen
Phil Douglis12-Nov-2004 03:27
Thanks, Larry for this comment on this "frame within a frame" image. I agree-- there are many things going on here in front of this old theatre. But if that guy is not standing by himself in the center of this image, there is no picture for me.
Guest 12-Nov-2004 03:15
There are so many stories going on here, it's hard to know where to begin...you could almost start a novel just using the images of the people in this photograph.
Phil Douglis25-Oct-2004 15:48
I well remember that moon-ike door in Shanghai's Yu Garden's. It did indeed embrace a lovely scene of water, trees and buildings. (Unfortunately it was also a scene full of tourists such as myself, which killed the picture.)
You are right about framing within a frame -- I do it quite a bit to help add the illusion of depth to a picture.
Guest 25-Oct-2004 14:55
Phil,if you come into an old chinese garden,you must see door like the moon and window like a fan.Things in these door or window form a beautiful picture with exquisite frame.You have the same idea with chinese garden designers, "the frame within a frame".
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