Samba, Montevideo, Uruguary, 2002 by Phil Douglis

Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Seven: Making time count > Samba, Montevideo, Uruguary, 2002


28-DEC-2002

Samba, Montevideo, Uruguary, 2002

Using a camera to stop or blur a moment of action is not our only choice in time. We can also choose to stop or blur human reactions, expressing how they feel at the moment. I was just about to leave Montevideo's Old Port Market when a Samba band entered the hall -- brass blaring and drums pounding. After being persuaded to participate, this woman's reaction becomes pure pleasure as she begins to move to the Samba's beat. The gyrations of the drummer and the clapping fellow at right add context for meaning. This shot was made indoors, without flash, at 1/50th of second. She was moving a bit too fast for me to completly freeze her reaction, which adds even more feeling to this picture. The very slight blurring implies a sense of spontaneity that helps define the moment.

Canon PowerShot G2
1/50s f/3.5 at 7.0mm full exif

other sizes: small medium large original auto

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Phil Douglis		25-Jul-2006 18:09
Yes, Jenene -- "letting go" is what this image is all about. There is so much energy expressed here from the dancer, the band, and the onlookers. And I was pretty worked up as well -- I was swept along with the music, and just kept firing. I an not as much freezing a moment here as I am extending it, giving everyone who looks at it the feeling of being there.

JSWaters		25-Jul-2006 16:32
Compared with other images in this gallery where you've used the camera to freeze a moment that illustrates a crowded scene devoid of interaction, here you give us this joyful celebration where everyone participates and expresses a comraderie often experienced when people allow themselves freedom to 'let go' and enjoy simple pleasures. You want to be there, too! Jenene

Phil Douglis		01-Jun-2005 17:16
Thanks, Scott, for seeing the expression in this image with such eloquence. I think this image also expresses the surge of adrenaline I felt as I shot it -- it was as if I was back in my own youth again, shooting as a photojournalist shoots -- spontaneously, instinctively, and passionately. Not only are the drummer's hands framing the dancing girl, but so is the arm of the man clapping from his bar stool.

Scott		01-Jun-2005 11:48
I like this image a lot! The slight motion blur really adds a lot of meaning to this image. It is at once vibrant, full of life, and dynamic. The expressions on each of their faces are simply beautifully and magnificently captured--neither a moment too late nor too early. I particularly like the position of the drummer's hands in that they somehow frame the dancing girl. Great, great shot!

Phil Douglis		20-Dec-2004 03:18
Glad you understand the difference between making an image that is carefully thought through, composed as artistic expression, and often pre-visualized, or those post-visualized images that seize the moment such as this one. They do indeed function differently and serve different purposes. I am happy you love this shot for what it is. As for the National Geographic Magazine, it uses images of both kinds. Some of them are indeed moments in time that express the essence of its subject, such as I've tried to make here. Others are pre-visualized, carefully planned images that rely on spatial relationships, and the interplay of light and shadow, to express their ideas. Enjoy the worldisround article, Jen. You will note that I have prepared comprehensive digital travel narratives on all of my trips on that site, which are not intended as lessons in photographic expression, but rather as visual stories of my journeys. I have many more photos posted on worldisround than I have posted here on pbase. Most of the examples I use to teach photographic expression here on pbase are drawn from those worldisround.com images.

Jennifer Zhou		20-Dec-2004 02:57
Phil, thank you for helping me understand the different between moment picture & art picture. They have different criterions. And I love this picture very much for what it is. I also think this is the kind of National Geography shot! And thank you for the link of the whole article, I will read over and I want to say you have many very good pictures there not in the pbase. Hope people won't miss them. Jen

Phil Douglis		20-Dec-2004 00:32
Thanks, Jen, for your observations. After two years of being posted here, somebody has finally seen enough value in this image as a lesson to comment on it. This is the kind of shot that can't be set up or arranged. It is made from the hip, if you will, a true photojournalists or street shot. I must have fired off ten or twenty images while she was dancing with this guy, and this was the one with the most "soul" to it. It is one of those "moment shots" that is filled with so-called technical flaws that would be less acceptable in other types of images. The overall image is a bit soft, there is crap behind her, and you are correct to call the lady's back on the right edge as jarring. (No more jarring than that leg and flowered pants coming out of the clapping guy's arm.) In short, there many distractions here that I would normally call sloppy photography. But the strengths of this image as a moment of vibrant life more than outweigh the technical distractions here. Given the equipment I was using, there was no way to blur out the background. if had moved to the left to take out the white clutter on the right, I would have had that clapping guy, who is so important to the picture, dangling off the edge frame. Better to have him sneaking around that body on the stool, right? If I had taken my eyes off the drummer and the woman for an instant, I would have lost the moment I was going after here. In other words, Jen, we make tradeoffs whenever we are dealing with moment pictures. This is not art. It is journalism. Reportage. I am telling a story here in an eye blink. You are right -- the dancer and drummer are at the essence of my story, and the two guys on the edges are abstracted context. In none of my other images did I so perfectly express the inter-relationship of the body language of both drummer and dancer. Thanks, Jen, for selecting this image as a lesson in "moment" pictures. Flawed as it may be aesthetically, this image is one of most vibrant I've ever made. (If you want to see this image as part of a picture story, where it is used along with seven other pictures I shot at the Montevideo's Old Port Market , you can see it in my worldisround.com travel article at:http://www.worldisround.com/articles/14158/index.html )

Jennifer Zhou		19-Dec-2004 06:12
Yes, this is the moment! You freeze the happiness and makes this moment lasts forever! The dancer and the drummer in the the middle are the souls to the music, and to the picture. The men on two sides add a good context. I like the way you abstract the other drummer(show only the hands which are the most important parts to the story and great abstraction challenge viewers imaginations). And the clapping guy also plays avery important role in the picture but the woman's back is a bit jarring. I think the drummer in the middle is the KEY here, his energetic dance makes him the lowest point in the picture, that makes viewers' eyes flowing up-and-down through the picture just like the music in our imagination.. Jen

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