Monoscape, Trinity Island, Antarctica, 2004 by Phil Douglis

Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Eleven: Aspects of Antarctica – a travel photo-essay > Monoscape, Trinity Island, Antarctica, 2004

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Monoscape, Trinity Island, Antarctica, 2004

Nature created this abstraction – a mass of snow and clouds embracing the distant jet black mountains of Trinity Island. I shot it in color, but there is none of it here – only a dream-like swirling monochromatic mass of snow, ice, clouds, and rock to prod the human imagination and bring meaning to this awesomely empty place.

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Phil Douglis		10-Aug-2005 19:56
Thanks, Eloise. Antarctica itself is a study in contrasts, just as is this image. White and black, big and small, smooth and rough, formed and unformed, transitory and permanent. As my frequent commenter Marisa would be quick to add, it offers a study in opposites as well, and opposites, when put together in a coherent way, can create a unity -- an meaningful entity unto itself. That, too, is Antarctica.

Eloise		10-Aug-2005 19:44
Love the different contrasts in this photo!!

Piotr Siejka		10-Jun-2004 19:04
More, more, more!!!!!

Phil Douglis		27-Jan-2004 01:12
I thought of you often on this trip, Marek -- and when I saw this monoscape before me I wondered what aspect of it you would have chosen to interpret. All of Trinity Island lay before us -- it was a question of selectivity: which segment would make the strongest image. To me, the final word of your comment rests at the heart of this image. It was indeed a chilling scene, and so representative of Antarctica itself. A bitter cold, mysterious, and at times mythical place. Needless to say, I cropped out much of the sea -- and that sea that is there becomes black through underexposure needed to bring out details and texture in the snow.

Phil Douglis		26-Jan-2004 23:39
Lisa, what a great photographic category you have just coined: natural black and white. I love it. I've been shooting them for years and calling them color pictures without color. This image is important because it IS Antarctica. The whole place is a monotone on a gray day. Utterly drained of color (except for occasional blueish icebergs) since it has no people, no habitation, and no vegetation - only gray skies, gray water (underexposed here to make it black), white snow, black rock, and white and gray clouds.

Guest		26-Jan-2004 19:57
This my favourite image -- the scene seems 'designed' to show off the tonal range and textural effects rendered in a 'single' colour. The framing is perfect, with the central black 'hero' assuming the role of some mythical sentinel or artifact. Chilling.

Guest		26-Jan-2004 12:06
One of my favorite kinds of images.....natural black and white. For some reason shots taken in color that register in monotones are very powerful. This is no exception.

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