photo sharing and upload picture albums photo forums search pictures popular photos photography help login
Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Two: Travel Incongruities > Flying feet, Belmont Amusement Park, San Diego, California, 2004
previous | next
16-APR-2004

Flying feet, Belmont Amusement Park, San Diego, California, 2004

It is an incongruous sight, indeed, to see ten pairs of feet dangling in the air at once. But that’s what’s happening here as ten kids enjoy an amusement park ride that lifted them into the air and then abruptly dropped them with a jarring bounce. I stood beneath them, and using a wideangle lens to stretch the perspective, I shot as their twin pink chariots rose into a deep blue sky, placing a roller coaster behind them as context. This vantage point has abstracted the image by taking away the heads and bodies and leaving only the legs to plead for help

Canon PowerShot G5
1/800s f/4.0 at 7.2mm hide exif
Full EXIF Info
Date/Time16-Apr-2004 06:02:19
MakeCanon
ModelPowerShot G5
Flash UsedNo
Focal Length7.2 mm
Exposure Time1/800 sec
Aperturef/4
ISO Equivalent
Exposure Bias
White Balance (-1)
Metering Modemulti spot (3)
JPEG Quality (6)
Exposure Program
Focus Distance

other sizes: small medium large original auto
share
Phil Douglis23-Dec-2004 18:52
You and Clara both made good points, here, about feet and vulnerability. Our hands and feet govern our lives. Without them, it would be hard to function. Here, while hands hold on for dear life, feet are left to dangle helplessly in space.
Guest 23-Dec-2004 16:57
feet, our most primary gound selfmooving machines out of their ambient in the air, curious. By the way it seems that more then one had his or she's shoes fall down, there are a fiew bearfooted that as clara sais also gives a sence of vulnerability (feet without protection and hanging in the air.
Guest 01-Dec-2004 20:55
is like the vulnerability of the kids in there while the mechanical monster goes up and down
Phil Douglis08-Nov-2004 21:14
Instincts are based on experience. At least intellectual instincts are. You must have a wonderful imagination, Nut, and the more you use it, the more instinctive your responses to things such as this become.
nut 08-Nov-2004 19:53
It's an instinct. I don't have to think, it's automatic response.
Phil Douglis08-Nov-2004 18:27
So your eyes tell you one thing and your head another? And that is incongruous? You have opened my eyes, Nut, to a new definition of incongruity!
nut 08-Nov-2004 12:51
Because what I saw here is unreality at all. It's because of the sight. My eyes gave unrealistic photo, which against the real truth in my head. And it's incongruous.
I got it.
Phil Douglis08-Nov-2004 05:02
All of those feet with no bodies. The machine suddenly sprouts legs. Maureen then tells me this is a giant angel holding children in its wings. Then you show me a little man in the blue body who seems to running the machine. All of these things are at odds with reality. What it really is, is just an amusement park ride. But my angle of view from underneath the machine has abstracted the children, retaining only their legs, and so the image becomes incongruous. Does that explain it all to you, Nut? If not, keep asking questions until you can honestly say "I get it, Phil!"
nut 08-Nov-2004 04:53
What is the incongruous sight?
Phil Douglis06-Nov-2004 04:23
Thanks for coming back to this one, Maureen. You found the angel. Nut found the little man. And now you complete the transaction by creating a partnership. It's no wonder you are a professional consultant!
Guest 06-Nov-2004 03:45
I understand this completely. That little man is able to do all of this with the aid of the angel. Makes perfect sense to me!
Phil Douglis05-Nov-2004 19:22
By God you are right, Nut. There is a tiny man-like figure at the top of that blue column. He seems to be operating this strange machine, and it is, indeed, an incongruity.
nut 05-Nov-2004 06:07
This is an abstract incongruity.

I didn't see an angel here. I saw a blue hanging man here in the middle of blue object. I saw
his hands and arms hold the tiny metallic robe from above. I saw his leg push the pink object
into this position. When I compared his size with all these objects. He's so small with very
light weight, but he can move it. This is an abstract incongruity. It's nothing about size, power
and what you look like. But it's able or unable to do.

To see less, to think more and understand more.
Phil Douglis04-Nov-2004 17:58
Nice thought, Nut. Do you see the "angel" here that Maureen sees? It changes everything for me.
nut 04-Nov-2004 06:41
See less, Think more. I saw 10 pairs of feet take a break from what their have to do.
When I think more deeply, I realized that everything in this world need a break sometime,
no matter what they are.
Phil Douglis31-Oct-2004 03:42
You get better with each shot you take at my pictures, Maureen. Now that you mention it, I do see that blue and pink angel for the first time, particularly in the thumbnail, and the angel is definitely hoisting ten kids towards the heavens. (Of course, on the return trip, the angel will DROP those kids onto a bed of springs nestled down there in the hell you mention. And it really can be hell down below, because more than one kid often looses his or her lunch after the first couple of violent drops. Eccch!)
Guest 31-Oct-2004 03:02
Here we go again with my warped vision, but the very first thing I saw in looking at this photograph was a large angel, with a blue body, pink wings and green halo. On looking further, I see the angel is lifting several people up toward the heavens. Based on the background, I guess there are roller coasters in heaven. That should make some people happy, but for others it will be hell.
Jill26-Apr-2004 20:08
I am apt to wonder who lost shoes...as the one sitting on left with the flip flops.

A entertaining image Phil.
Phil Douglis25-Apr-2004 06:15
You are the one with the good eye, my friend. The two galleries you have posted so far on our Photo Safaris in San Diego and Tecate are filled with things that I never saw. That's what makes photography such a great medium. All of us look at the same things with different eyes. We express different feelings about what we see, and in highly individual ways. We all have our own interests, our own goals, and our own styles. In spite of all these differences, you and I seem to share an esthetic that is generally focused on the humane, the abstract, and the incongruous. We just do it in different ways.
Wendy O25-Apr-2004 05:45
I didn't even see this...good eye!!!!
Type your message and click Add Comment
It is best to login or register first but you may post as a guest.
Enter an optional name and contact email address. Name
Name Email
help private comment