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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Three: Expressing human values > Two for the Beach, Mission Beach, San Diego, California, 2004
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14-APR-2004

Two for the Beach, Mission Beach, San Diego, California, 2004

Friendship is also a human value, and I’ve used the context of a long walk on a deserted beach to bring that value home visually. Friendship is all about trust and sharing. In shooting this scene from the balcony of our beach house, I was able to build an image around repeating pairs – the pair of people, one of them wearing a bright red shirt that creates the focal point of the picture, is dwarfed by the expanse of sand and sea. A pair of long shadows anchors the foreground and gives depth to the scene. And even a pair of tire tracks peels off from the mass of tracks at center, as if to intercept them. The sea and beach converge in the upper left hand corner, suggesting that their walk – and friendship – will continue

Canon PowerShot G5
1/1250s f/4.0 at 28.8mm hide exif
Full EXIF Info
Date/Time14-Apr-2004 19:57:33
MakeCanon
ModelPowerShot G5
Flash UsedNo
Focal Length28.8 mm
Exposure Time1/1250 sec
Aperturef/4
ISO Equivalent
Exposure Bias
White Balance (-1)
Metering Modemulti spot (3)
JPEG Quality (6)
Exposure Programshutter priority (2)
Focus Distance

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Guest 09-Jan-2005 05:50
Hello Again, I was drawn to view this photo not because of what I saw in the image....but because of the location, I am a native San Diegan. now that I am here....I have to say that while I see two people walking along the beach, I see what appears to be confrontation between them...............They are not walking side by side and both looking ahead ..or at eachother...which would indicate a happy stroll along the beach by two friends. Instead, the one on the left is walking ahead of......not with, the one on the right. This seems that she is focused on her "walk" and not the "friend"....... and is possibly even ignoring her. And the one on the right.... she appears to be trying to "keep up" with the girl on the left and it looks as if she is trying to talk to her, but not succeeding completely.....so with that said, I don't think this photo reflects friendship in the warm sense. But then again, I am not sure if that was the intent!?!? Regards, Audra
Phil Douglis30-Dec-2004 05:47
This image has generated a few dissenting views, which is always welcome, Mikel. I am glad you recognize the core human value of friendship coming through in part of the photo, and I accept the fact that the dual shadows and tire tracks may not reinforce, and for some, may actually work against, this value of friendship. Does that mean that this picture fails in its mission to express human values? I don't think so. I just think that you see this image quite differently than I do. You see human values in conflict with each other here. You feel a sense of being ill at ease due to the dark shadows. And that is a valid human value. So is the rigidity you see symbolized in that tire track. You also say that the human value of flexibility is missing. As I have noted before, my image is only a starting point. Its meanings will be determined by those who look at it, and in quite different ways. For example, if and when Zandra ever gets as far as this image, I'll be willing to bet that she will find, just as you did, conflicting human values. Based early observations, that's just the way her brilliant mind sees and thinks. What all of this means is that each of us not only brings our own interpretation to an image, but we also may see human values of our own making, and often in conflict with each other. In other words, incongruent human values.
Guest 29-Dec-2004 14:46
Well, Phil I see the question of friendship in part of the photo and understand what your are trying to say. But in this case these two shadows though giving depth also are 2 amorfous dark figures like if they wold be watching the cupple, perhaps they are just trees or people don't know but not identifiying them gives me the an inquietant feeleng as well as the strait wheel traks strait structers, a strait line for me denotes rigidity and stresses the image intended as a harmonious picture i feel, like some sand dunes with soft bumps wold have not. Ofcourse you can use this rigidness to express a good friendship bond, but I think that firendship is also based in a flexibility of both of the parts and somehow this doesen't transmit me this feeleng.
Phil Douglis03-Dec-2004 21:23
Glad you appreciate the repeated pairs, here, Clara. I like to use diagonal thrusts in my images too -- I discuss them at greater length in my Composition Gallery. I am also glad that the unidentified nature of those two abstract shadows do not bother you as they bugged my friend Vera. It shows us how people can react to the same image in many different ways.
Guest 03-Dec-2004 20:38
Yes, the pattern of repeated pairs is a beautiful find. The on purpose diagonal angle creates dynamism to the scene. An agreeable walk on the sand beach.
Phil Douglis01-Dec-2004 03:35
Those are not "random dark patches," Vera. I saw those dual shadows first, then the dual tire tracks, and then waited for two people to walk into the frame to complete the composition. The dual shadows are there as visual anchors, as echoes of duality, and as visual pointers they add depth to the scene. I feel that we do not have to know what they are in order to use them for those purposes.

Your comment reminds me of Lara Sogologo's almost frantic reaction to this image:http://www.pbase.com/pnd1/image/33919659 She was so hung up on what was NOT described in the picture that she lost a chance to really absorb the mood and meaning of the image itself.

Leaving the "source" out of the picture is a form of abstraction. In the case of The Big Hug, I ask viewers to put their own imaginations to work and come up with their own answers of what that hugging lady is reacting to.
By doing this, I apparently drove poor Lara nuts. (She was still nattering about it when she attended my four day "Communicating with Pictures" workshop in Sedona in October.) And I left the source of those dual shadows out of theis picture as well, because I wanted them to function as abstract anchors in a non-representative way.

I am sorry this pair of anonymous shadows interferes with your ability to link them to the rest of the image, Vera. They simply point across a stretch of lonely beach to a pair of friends sharing a long walk home together.
Guest 28-Nov-2004 10:16
The pair of shadows may echo the theme of dualities, as well as add depth to the scene... but I wish I could figure out, or at least try to guess, what they were the shadows of. Instead, what I see here seem to be just two random dark patches -- thus somehow I feel rather reluctant to link them to the other pairs in the image. Vera.
Phil Douglis12-Nov-2004 18:26
Yes, nut. It takes two to make a friendship, and as I pointed out, there are many dualities in this image that underscore this gathering of friends on a California beach.
nut 12-Nov-2004 07:38
Friendship.
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