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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Twenty Nine: The Layered Image – accumulating meaning > Mural, Santa Fe Museum of Fine Arts, Santa Fe, New Mexico
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16-JUL-2005

Mural, Santa Fe Museum of Fine Arts, Santa Fe, New Mexico

This surrealistic mural, symbolizing sacrifice and the bounty of nature, makes a strong subject layer because of its brilliant color and exaggerated forms. It is located in the Santa Fe Museum of Fine Arts central courtyard, which is planted with a number of old trees. I choose this tree as my context layer because of the angle of its main branch. It matches the angle of the raised arm of the mural’s central figure. I found a camera position where I could align that branch just behind the figure, and at the same time place it into the deepest indentation of the wooden frame that overhangs the mural. The wooden frame and tree limb are both products of nature, while the theme of the mural relates to nature. It is not just a matter of creating a clever graphic juxtaposition of layers here. I am attempting to use these layers to create unity out of both man made and natural forms.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ20
1/30s f/2.8 at 15.0mm iso80 hide exif
Full EXIF Info
Date/Time16-Jul-2005 21:21:49
MakePanasonic
ModelDMC-FZ20
Flash UsedNo
Focal Length15 mm
Exposure Time1/30 sec
Aperturef/2.8
ISO Equivalent80
Exposure Bias1.00
White Balance (10)
Metering Modemulti spot (3)
JPEG Quality (6)
Exposure Programprogram (2)
Focus Distance

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Phil Douglis05-Feb-2008 19:59
I saw the angle of the arm of that tree echoing the angle of the arm of the man in the mural, and I also noticed the complementary colors. I built the entire image around it, Vera. If that tree was not there, i would not have made a picture of the mural. Picture of pictures usually do not interest me -- something else has to be happening to suggest an idea. And in this case it was the relationships of tree, wooden frame and mural content that all shared expressions of nature at work.
Guest 05-Feb-2008 02:51
What interests me here is how you worked the tree into your picture. I would likely have been trying to find a way to work the tree out of my picture. The colors of the tree work well with the mural. Had you cropped it tighter one might think the tree belonged to the mural.
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