San Telmo Café, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2004 by Phil Douglis

Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Three: Expressing human values > San Telmo Café, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2004

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12-JAN-2004

San Telmo Café, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2004

Hundreds of visitors have left their marks on the walls of this small café, contrasting strongly to the sole customer in the place, who seems even more alone when framed within a mirror surrounded by the echoes of patrons past. Although two waiters are present, they are both preoccupied. The customer will wait patiently for his change and then leave. This image speaks of loneliness, a human value frequently associated with places of pleasure.

Canon PowerShot G2
1/13s f/2.0 at 7.0mm hide exif

Full EXIF Info
Date/Time	12-Jan-2004 18:57:18
Make	Canon
Model	PowerShot G2
Flash Used	No
Focal Length	7 mm
Exposure Time	1/13 sec
Aperture	f/2
ISO Equivalent
Exposure Bias	-0.33
White Balance	(-1)
Metering Mode	matrix (5)
JPEG Quality	(6)
Exposure Program
Focus Distance	65.540 m

other sizes: small medium large original auto

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Phil Douglis		01-Feb-2008 20:54
Photography, Vera, has the capacity to create illusions that not only trick the eye but create meaning. In this case, the multiple reflections in those mirrors intensify the feeling of loneliness, which is the point of this picture.

Guest		01-Feb-2008 03:21
Here I notice how my eye travels from one person to the next. I too thought I was looking through windows; windows on a train. So you caused my eyes to do a double take too. v.

Phil Douglis		30-Dec-2004 06:11
Thanks, Mikel, for your comments on this image, which I have always felt was one of the more revealing human documents I have produced in a lifetime of shooting people in various situations and circumstances. And thanks too for the cropping suggestion. You will note that there is no longer a shoulder on the left edge of the picture. In some ways this image reminds me of your fantastic portrait of the cancer doctor at:http://www.pbase.com/laburu/image/36716544 There is that same sense of isolation and even imprisonment in this mirror as there is in yours, Mikel. You not only endorse my central human value of loneliness here -- but you add nostalgia and decadence to the mix as well. And if you ever get to Buenos Aires, be sure to go to the San Telmo Cafe. It is the essence of that old world neighborhood.

Guest		29-Dec-2004 18:16
First of all Phil I love the composition of this photo. This photo also tells the same too me, like the ones that have left and will not come back and it is if that man has come too late. Just one little detail, crop a bit of the left sight of the photo I see an arm and a shoulder stiking out of there... :S Aniway, the clent it's self denotes seriousity that makes this feeleng of lonlyness a bit more acurate if you add it to the face of circumstances of the waiter giving him the bill. The decoration also helps for nostalgia, all is still like in old maner wood carved, old lights and the messages in the wood that supports the mirror not only gives a feeleng of the quantity of people that passed throe that bar in some past time, but also a decadence, it makes it shabby and as such dramatizes it a bit more. As you well said, aislating the waiter in one mirror and the client in the other also does as if they are distant too echother though the clent has too a waiter behind him, this one is tourning his back to him... as ignoring him. Remarcable image Phil, in all aspects.

Phil Douglis		03-Dec-2004 21:27
Where have the laughs gone, indeed. You caught the message of my picture in just those five words, Clara. I think I must have made this image so that you, and others like you, will stop and ponder the nature of the ebb and flow of life itself. As you and Buddha say, everything is indeed subject to change.

Guest		03-Dec-2004 20:44
The place has much history which is a contrast with the instant portrayed, where only silence prevails, waiters doing their job, costumer seriously pondering to himself. Where the laughs have gone? Everything is subject to change. This said the Buddha.

Guest		22-Nov-2004 15:22
Yeah, the composition is spot on. A reflection on life, I guess, on life that we lead now and the life that waits for us somewhere down the line. The light might be the one at the end of the tunnel, when life itself stops being life and turns into something much different...different, but what exactly? Well, we have to live to find out, don't we? What also makes the image special is all the names carved into the wood...might be names or messages, don't know for sure. And the lines...lead my eyes nicely through the frame from foreground to background and back again. Well done, Phil, this one is one of your best.

nut		14-Nov-2004 13:38
Loneliness.

Phil Douglis		31-Oct-2004 04:12
Your viewing process followed my intentions precisely here, Maureen. I made your eyes do a double take, recognize the situation, and then feel the pain. I did this all from outside the front door on a Buenos Aires street. They never saw me. And I don't think this forgotten soul saw anyone!

Guest		31-Oct-2004 03:36
At first blush, I thought I was looking through windows. Then I realized those were mirrors. The distraction of the busy wall drew my eyes there, and I thought, "Graffiti done right out in front of everyone? I guess nobody cares." Then I looked further at the scene reflected in the mirror and was struck by my previous thought about nobody caring. Very lonely scene. Heartbreaking.

Piotr Siejka		10-Jun-2004 18:59
Great composition.

Phil Douglis		27-Jan-2004 00:16
Tim, this image is all about layers. It is a frame within a frame, a scene within a scene, a melancholy moment wrapped within a remembrance of long gone celebrants. It will work according to the extent that this picture can trigger the imagination of those who view it.

Tim May		26-Jan-2004 18:12
I think the loneliness is accentuated by the layering in the image. The people, because they are reflected, are almost like memories or imagination, in the mind of the viewer, rather than in the reality of the scene. For me, when I have felt lonely, I live in my imagination. The redness of the man's skin also pulls the eye to him.

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