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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Twenty Eight: Using symbols and metaphors to express meaning > When day is night and night is day, Bruges, Belgium, 2005
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11-JUN-2005

When day is night and night is day, Bruges, Belgium, 2005

The streets of Bruges are still lined with the 500-year-old mansions of cloth merchants. We can see those houses here as a metaphor for another time and place, a way of life that is no more. The sun struggles to break through the dark clouds overhead, which cast darkly symbolic shadows upon those houses. The eerie light is symbolically haunting. Day leans towards night, because a golden moon, symbolic of the night, dominates the image. Yet the sun, symbolic of the day, is clearly struggling to break through those clouds. This is why I took this camera position, and why I used a wideangle lens to carefully juxtapose all of these symbols within a single frame.

Canon PowerShot G6
1/1250s f/5.6 at 7.2mm hide exif
Full EXIF Info
Date/Time11-Jun-2005 14:29:39
MakeCanon
ModelCanon PowerShot G6
Flash UsedNo
Focal Length7.2 mm
Exposure Time1/1250 sec
Aperturef/5.6
ISO Equivalent
Exposure Bias-0.70
White Balance (-1)
Metering Modemulti spot (3)
JPEG Quality (6)
Exposure Programshutter priority (2)
Focus Distance

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Phil Douglis22-Nov-2006 07:02
So many of favorite students have commented on this image, but you made it complete, Jen, with your idea built around the symbolic role of the moon as the ruler of the universe, as opposed to the sun, which is definitely subordinate here. Another incongruity here. Kal and Rodney also built their interpretations around the moon -- Kal speaks of its anger at the sun, while Rodney feels the moon is hiding. You bring it front and center, and make it the boss here. I saw the moon as symbol of night, holding back the day. In any event, the moon is certainly the dominant symbol in this image, and seems to be getting its way .
Jennifer Zhou22-Nov-2006 04:16
Yes, surreal is the word! The human world is in silence, those old buildings bring us traveling through time, we seem like arriving at another planet where the noon rules. His sublime humanized face makes no dubte of his power. He doesn't need to borrow the source of light from Sun to shine, he seems already become the brightest star in the universe..

I love this picture, it is a great lesson of using symbols.. Thanks for making it Phil!
Phil Douglis01-Mar-2006 06:55
Xin -- the street was full of people. But I waited until they were out of the frame before I shot this image. If I included a single person, the image would change. And yes, the distortion of the wideangle bends the scene, and the image becomes not only haunted but somewhat surrealistic.
Sheena Xin Liu01-Mar-2006 05:29
I wonder why there is no people on the street. Also, the placement of the moon, with the wide-angle distortion, makes this image really haunting...
Phil Douglis07-Oct-2005 23:39
It's the quality of light that makes the moon seem to be lurking here, Rod. I deliberately exposed this image to get this kind of feeling.
Guest 04-Oct-2005 18:29
Very interesting image. I got the feeling the moon was hiding out of sight waiting for the sun to turn its back on it.
Phil Douglis09-Aug-2005 16:32
Thanks for expanding on Kal's musings, Zandra. I love the way you use this image as a stage set for your play about vanity. I can see your plot line well and am fascinated by it. I am thrilled that this image can enter your imagination and inspire you to come up with such a thought provoking scenario. Three human imaginations are at work here together -- yours, Kal's, and my own. And look at what we have done!
Guest 09-Aug-2005 15:52
There is a battle going on here, just as Kal mentions. The moon loosk up at the sky in anger and envy and i can almost see how the moon is plotting against the sun in an attempt to take it's place as the ruler of the sky. It brings me straight in to the deper meaning in this image. the message itself is not about the sky, the sun or the moon. For me, this is a symbol of man kinds vanity. How we become yellous of those who have succedd in life. Rather then being happy for them, we plot against them, the dark side of human nature. Our thoughts become clouded, hense the clouds in the sky work as a symbol as well. Also, those that are on top, sometime have a hard time, or simply ignore those who are less fortunate...their eyes becoem clouded to. And so ther will always be a certain barrier, in tshi case space, between those in power and those who are not, between those how have succeded and those who have not. The barrier may be imaginative or real, it doesn't matter. It is ther, and well visible as the space between sky and the moon. Have you also noticed how dark the riht part of the phot it, the territory of he moon, the less fortunate. Further away towards teh left and towards the sky the houses become brighter...
Phil Douglis02-Jul-2005 20:23
A very clever interpretation, Kal. I will never see this image in the same way again. Thank you.
Kal Khogali02-Jul-2005 14:03
Very clever. The moon looks angry as though the Sun's attempts are an intrusion on his territory.
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