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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Twenty Two: Black and white travel photography – making less into more > Bargaining, Salavan Province, Laos, 2005
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28-JAN-2005

Bargaining, Salavan Province, Laos, 2005

These women are weavers. They are in the midst of a long bargaining session as they try to sell their products to visitors. I originally photographed them in color, but changed the image to black and white in order to strengthen the solemnity of the moment and the intensity of feeling they bring to it.

The color version is more real and more beautiful. The skin tones are lovely, the light warm. The more abstract black and white reproduction makes it more journalistic in nature. The beauty and warmth is gone, replaced by unvarnished intensity of thought. The softly focused woman in the background, who has been wearing red, now fades into the woodwork, a presence, but no longer an entity. The woman in focus is left to make a hard decision. When does she accept the amount that is being offered?

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Phil Douglis24-Jan-2006 04:59
What a lovely interpretation, Xin -- the interplay of bi-folded generations. I never considered that aspect, but you have made me look at my image with new eyes. Thank you.
Sheena Xin Liu17-Jan-2006 05:52
I have been staring at this image for a long while, as if I saw a mirror between two generations. The mirror is invisible, but it is also striking. It separates time and space, old generation and young, background and foreground, what¡¯s more, it joins their co-expectation, unchangeable poverty , repeated thoughts and replayed life patterns. It is a great composition that reveals bi-folded generations.
Phil Douglis27-Mar-2005 06:49
You always manage to bring a new dimension to my images, Jen, with your comments. Learning and growth go beyond simply two people getting the best price for their work here. You see this pair as student and mentor -- if so, the woman in the foreground has much experience to draw on. I chose to frame it tightly because I wanted to establish a bond of intimacy here between these people, and between them and the viewers of this image as well. And as you say, by abstracting it further by using black and white instead of color, I pare this photo down to its essence. There is absolutely nothing here that can compete with meaning.
Jennifer Zhou26-Mar-2005 09:54
Your tight framing of their expressions and the choice of B&W certainly intensify the moment here! And I agree with Celia that the women in the background acts like a mirror, also I feel from her expression that she is more experienced on this bargaining thing but your choice of focal point makes her step back and serves as a support to the young lady, therefore to me this is also a photo about learning and growth.

Jen
Phil Douglis01-Mar-2005 18:42
I have to agree with you, Celia, that the woman in the back plays a major role in this image. She may be shadowy and soft, but her demeanor does indeed reinforce the determination and calculation expressed by the main subject. Your comment also prompts me to mention the orientation of these faces as well. I've created a sense of tension in this image -- and there was plenty of tension in that room -- by contrasting a larger profile view of the foreground figure as subject, to a smaller frontal view of the background figure as context. I use a similar tension producing approach in my shot of the teacher and reciting nun at:http://www.pbase.com/pnd1/image/40190408 . However, that shot, which uses color as its basis, emphasizes the larger and softer frontally viewed background figure as subject, and uses the smaller but sharper profile figure in the foreground as context. In this image, black and white creates the mood. In the color image, the color gives identity to both figures.
Cecilia Lim01-Mar-2005 12:54
Wow! It sounds like the colour version of this image would have made these women beautiful portraits. But without colour in play, the facial expressions of the women speak strongly now. The nuances in their facial expression - the intense look of determination, their serious and calculative expressions in their eyes, the subtle expressions of worry and hope in securing a good sale - all become the story of your image. Although you feel that the woman in the back as been reduced to a mere shadowy presence, I feel that she plays an important part in your image. Her equally similar & intense face acts like a mirror for the lady who is in the front, echoeing the mood and emotion of this bargaining session.
monique jansen01-Mar-2005 08:02
Yes please; just to have a look at it.
Phil Douglis01-Mar-2005 04:32
I don't have the color version on line. Let me know if you want me to email it to you.
monique jansen28-Feb-2005 17:48
Interesting and indeed evokes ideas and feelings of strength, determination, doubt, perseverance, thought. Would like to see the color one though.
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