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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Twenty One: The Marketplace -- crossroads of a community. > Shopkeeper, Luang Prabang, Laos, 2005
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22-JAN-2005

Shopkeeper, Luang Prabang, Laos, 2005

I found this shopkeeper standing alone in the shade of his roadside shop, catching up on his reading. Participating in a market requires knowledge, and I wanted to express that fact in this image. His little shop is located in a small village, and he must often have time on his hands. Yet the golden late afternoon light that bathes the scene provides an optimistic context. He is seems to be making a living at what he is doing.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ20
1/640s f/5.6 at 10.5mm iso80 full exif

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Phil Douglis04-Apr-2005 20:39
Thank you so much, Jen, for suggesting that he might well be holding a bunch of chopsticks in his hand. If he is, than this picture is not as much about gaining knowledge, as it is about careful preparation. I have no memory of what is actually in his hands. It looked like reading material to me in this picture, but now that you tell me it looks as if he might be holding chopsticks in his hand, he might well be. In which case, the idyllic mood of this scene is unchanged but the meaning definitely is. It all depends upon viewer's context. As a westerner, I don't see those chopsticks. As an Asian, you do. Only he knows for sure, right? A good lesson here in both context and meaning. The "confusion" as you call it, is worth its weight in knowledge.
Jennifer Zhou04-Apr-2005 07:14
I love this golden afternoon light, and the tree shadows on the groud, a shop with no shoppers, a shopkeeper enjoy his time reading and this domestic setting all help to show this idyllic quietness. Market place is usually busy but we can't see it here. And the photo definitely shows human values and the culture of Laos. The only confusion is the book, I didn't recognize it until you told us, I thought he is holding a bunch of chopsticks and preparing for the meal.

Jen
Phil Douglis01-Mar-2005 01:58
You seem to be evaluating these images in a way that I did not intend, Mo. I am posting each of these images not as lessons in "greatness," but rather to show photographers how to express ideas with marketplace imagery. In this image, for example, I've used light to express a mood that conveys a sense of well-being. It thus becomes an expressive marketplace image. It is an impossibility to measure the worth of a teaching image as expression against a standard of "greatness." You can only measure its value as a teaching example in terms of what it says and how, and why, it says it.
monique jansen28-Feb-2005 13:20
Nice, but for you not spectacular, in my opinion. I am holding out for the great ones in this gallery.
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