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

Produce Stand, Luang Prabang, Laos, 2005

This woman looked as if she were lost in a very healthy dream. I was attracted to the richness of the colors and textures that surrounded her, and to the sense of patience I felt in her demeanor. This image is not about either buying or selling. Instead it tells the story of the marketplace that is seldom told – it’s all about waiting.

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Phil Douglis11-Apr-2005 17:47
I am always delighted when you ask a question and then place value on my answer. Aesthetics are secondary to my intentions, Jen, and always will be. Expression of meaning comes first. If aesthetics help, fine. But I don't make pictures because of how they look. Rather, I make them because of how they work. Thanks for recognizing this.
Jennifer Zhou11-Apr-2005 07:20
As I guessed, those background people are port of your message, I think I have to agree with you! Your goal is not only to make an aesthetically good image but an expressive image!~
Phil Douglis08-Apr-2005 20:18
Thanks, Jen, as always, for your comment. This image reminds me of my "No Sale" picture of two years ago athttp://www.pbase.com/pnd1/image/20746677. In both images, a woman sits alone with her products, while other people buy from other vendors. If I had cropped this image at the top as you implied, and removed the figures in the background, the image would have lost half of its meaning. Those abstracted people in the background are potential buyers, and she is waiting for buyers of any kind to come to her stand. You are right, Jen. In expressive photography, our choices are conditioned by our intentions. This would have been an aesthetically cleaner image if cropped from the top, but it would have lost the context needed to express what I am trying to say here. She is waiting for customers who may never come, and with great patience. Should I have improved the form and lost this content in the process?
Jennifer Zhou08-Apr-2005 11:48
I love when you say she is lost in a healthy dream Phil, it looks like so to many other people, but to her, all products here are just how she makes a living. And waiting usually is not an enjoyable thing to do, but you found her sitting comfortablely and patiently, that can be an incongruity right? The only thing I have problem with is the framing, I think this picture should be more abstracted----frame the woman and her products more tightly, in a result, those people on the top of her will be left out. But I guess you must have your reasons including them-----to imply they are the potential buyers? That again comes down to a matter of intention.

Jen
Phil Douglis01-Mar-2005 02:04
Yes, I remember commenting on the strengths of your image, Mo.
monique jansen28-Feb-2005 13:24
It actually reminds me of one of my own marketplace pictures, see link;http://www.pbase.com/trevvelbug/image/37306411
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