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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Twelve: Using color to express ideas > Architecture as Art, Bilbao, Spain, 2004
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01-SEP-2004

Architecture as Art, Bilbao, Spain, 2004

A new building adjacent to Bilbao's Guggenheim Museum becomes a metallic rainbow as light softly plays across its facade. I waited for these two people and their dog to reach that spot before shooting. They give the picture its sense of scale. I also cropped the building to fill my frame with soft, pastel color. This creates an incongruity – the image is now a sea of color without limits. Yet the meaning of this picture to me rests in the softness of the color and the implications of its pattern. The silvered reflectors covering the wall of this building process the flow of light and color to create that meaning. The angle of the sun, or the passage of a cloud, can and does change everything. I was shooting on an overcast day, which made the colors as muted and soft, as the diffused light itself. The wall seems to shimmer in its flow of steps, rising from the people towards the sky. These people will soon be gone. And so will this particular pattern of color and light. The artist who created this concept seems to be expressing transience to me. Nothing is permanent. Soft colors are more likely to vanish than strong ones. A pattern that rises seems to be on the verge of disappearance. That is what I wanted my picture to say. Without these soft colors, that idea would never play. How do you feel about this image, my reasoning, and my execution? Let me know with your comments, questions and suggestions. I will respond, and we can use this image as a basis for a discussion on the meaning of color in photography. Thanks for your help.

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Phil Douglis18-Aug-2007 18:25
Thanks, Cyndy, for leaving this comment. The muted colors drew me to this scene. I like your "metalic sherbet sampler" metaphor, and you certainly grasped what I am trying to express here. This image is all about the transitional nature of color and how people relate to it. I am glad you found my caption useful as well -- I have done the same thing for 1,700 other images in this cyberbook. I hope that my thoughts on my own work will be useful to my viewers and help them to learn how to express themselves through their own photography.
Guest 18-Aug-2007 18:04
I really like the soft, muted colors. It's like a metalic sherbet sampler. Nice philosophy on the transitional nature of color and the couple's bearing on the image. I'm glad you added your opinion on why you chose this composition. Very nice!
Phil Douglis02-Apr-2005 06:00
Thank you for being the first to leave a comment on this image, Benchang. I was hoping someone would equate the shimmering light on the facade of that building to a painting. It was no doubt designed as an expression of light and color, capturing the same feeling that impressionist painters intended their paintings to convey by concentrating on tone and effect instead of detail. I liked its transitory nature. The couple walking their dog will soon vanish from the scene, as will that pattern of light and color before them. Only this image will remain as evidence that this moment ever took place. Such is the nature of color as well -- it is entirely at the mercy of reflected light, and changes as the light itself changes.
Benchang Tang 02-Apr-2005 03:25
The couple is walking into a masterpiece of Monet!
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