Detail, Balboa Park Botanical Garden, San Diego, California, 2004 photo

Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Four: Finding meaning in details > Detail, Balboa Park Botanical Garden, San Diego, California, 2004

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15-APR-2004

Detail, Balboa Park Botanical Garden, San Diego, California, 2004

I tried to make a photograph that captured the era in which the graceful building housing Balboa Park’s amazing botanical specimens was built. To do this, I picked out a distinctive section of wall near the building’s entrance, lined with rectangles and spheres. Using the bold, deep shadows cast by the mid-day sun, I photographed them from an angle that brought them together as a series of rhythmic patterns embodying the design of the 1930s. These details are only a tiny part of the vast structure, but to me, they best represented the building’s design origins.

Canon PowerShot G5
1/250s f/4.0 at 28.8mm hide exif

Full EXIF Info
Date/Time	15-Apr-2004 23:23:19
Make	Canon
Model	PowerShot G5
Flash Used	No
Focal Length	28.8 mm
Exposure Time	1/250 sec
Aperture	f/4
ISO Equivalent
Exposure Bias
White Balance	(-1)
Metering Mode	multi spot (3)
JPEG Quality	(6)
Exposure Program
Focus Distance

other sizes: small medium large original auto

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Guest		04-Jul-2005 18:33
I expect music to play when I look at this image. Wonderful! I am enjoying all your work very much. Learning a lot, too!

nut		25-Dec-2004 07:45
Redwoods, lined with rectangles and spheres, is represent the arrangement of of this building. Redwood is represent nature elements. So, this building is man-made by arrange all nature elements in order. To me, shadows and the light here is warm, not too strong, not too light, not too hot and hot too cold. My eyes are fine with this. So I think this buidling is the place to take a rest and too see all nature elements in order. The Balboa Park Botanical Garden must be the place that I can take a rest with warm feeling and I can see all nature elememt here, which have been arrange in order by man-made.

Phil Douglis		10-Dec-2004 21:58
Your comments usually are enlightening to us, Clara, because you focus on content and meaning rather than on form for its own sake. By focusing on the relentless march of these geometric details, I have intimidated you? Yet the context I provide somehow eases your pain? Are you telling us that when we are confronted with something we may not have seen before, it can make us nervous or worse? If you answer yes to all three of these questions, you show me that expressive photography, used here as a catalyst for thought and feeling, is working for you and on you. By isolating details within a frame such as I have done here, using rhythmic pattern, light and shadow, I am indeed deliberately "altering your habitual perception" here, aren't I? It reinforces my contention, stated in the introduction to this gallery, that details are building blocks to meaning, representing larger ideas. I have used these details to stimulate you emotionally, Clara. They represent to you, in an abstract way, a threat or force that is intimidating. It comes as a shock to you because you don't see this kind of image that often. And you don't see it that often because I have reduced it to an essence, an abstract distillation of detail representing a larger structure.

Guest		10-Dec-2004 19:24
This is extremely abstract shot, quite intimidating to me. Knowing that belongs to a building gives me some relief. This shows how emotionally unrestful we can become by altering our habitual perceptions of, say, things.

Guest		31-Oct-2004 09:59
great image

Phil Douglis		15-Aug-2004 01:27
Hi, Vicky -- thanks for the nice comment. You say in few words exactly what picture does! I don't really use the rule of thirds, however -- it just happens to work out that way. Rules are made to be broken.

Guest		14-Aug-2004 19:29
composite the geometric shapes and use the rule of thirds light and shadow makes contrast that repeat pattern go smaller makes stretch very good pic!

Vinay		10-May-2004 16:42
Really well seen. Great image

Phil Douglis		09-May-2004 18:40
Thanks, Bruce, for this perceptive comment. This image, featuring both emphatic pattern and texture, does indeed stimulate both the eye and the fingers. The repeating art deco motif in the detail not only represents a particular era but can jolt the senses as well.

Guest		09-May-2004 12:11
Such a very strong image. You have made the dark shadows work for you to accentuate the pattern. Then, with all those strong shapes, you also retain the texture of the wood - I want to touch it. I like this photo very much.

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