Café, Kotor Town, Montenegro, 2005 by Phil Douglis

Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Thirty: When walls speak and we listen > Café, Kotor Town, Montenegro, 2005

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14-SEP-2005

Café, Kotor Town, Montenegro, 2005

Medieval Kotor Town is filled with small cafes such as this one. Although this is essentially a café scene, it is really built around a stone wall that is hundreds of years old. Three people sit on one side of it, talking and listening. On the other side of the wall, a man sits in a window. They take no notice of him. And he seems to ignore them as well. Isolated by that wall, he is in own world. And that is what walls do. They divide, isolate, and often insulate. And that is what this image is about -- space and separation.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ20
1/125s f/3.7 at 14.1mm iso80 hide exif

Full EXIF Info
Date/Time	14-Sep-2005 12:50:22
Make	Panasonic
Model	DMC-FZ20
Flash Used	No
Focal Length	14.1 mm
Exposure Time	1/125 sec
Aperture	f/3.7
ISO Equivalent	80
Exposure Bias
White Balance	(10)
Metering Mode	multi spot (3)
JPEG Quality	(6)
Exposure Program	program (2)
Focus Distance

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Phil Douglis		31-May-2006 19:42
You add a new dimension to this image for me, Lorraine. I guess it comes down to an idea about both communication and community. Thanks for the added vision.

Guest		31-May-2006 14:12
My thoughts are that the man in the window is a true representation of what being "human" is, we are alone untill we choose to surround ourselves with family or friends, we are creating a sense of not being alone. The wall represents his choice.

Phil Douglis		09-Oct-2005 20:17
Thanks so much, Celia, for pointing out still another function of walls -- to create divisions defining different worlds for different people. You are right about the age of those walls, as well. This is a medieval town, and although earthquakes have reshaped it over the years, the walls themselves have pretty much been rebuilt in their original form, yet their function changes with the centuries. You are right -- if walls could only speak!!!

Cecilia Lim		09-Oct-2005 20:01
This “human values” rich image is very much a comment about the human condition as it is about physical space and separation. People come to cafes for all sorts of reasons - some to be social, some to have time to themselves with their favourite beverage, and some to be alone without being completely alone, as it seems with the guy in the window and the girl who sits back quietly on the bench leaning away from her friends. Even in this intimate setting, we can see that although people exist together, they are very much separated by their own worlds. And I love the way you use these walls to create layers and division to define the different worlds here. What’s also interesting about this image is the context you gave about these stone walls being hundreds of years old - People come and go, but these walls stand steadfast, day after day, year after year. This space has probably not always been a cafe, and it makes me wonder how many "worlds" these walls have seen and heard through the centuries.

Phil Douglis		07-Oct-2005 23:38
Thanks, Rod for giving this image another title. And yes, he does seem to be a painting on a wall, now that you mention it.

Guest		04-Oct-2005 18:25
This could be called "odd man out" :) Composing the window like this is nice, as it gives it a framed picture (painting) feeling, rather than a real person sitting there. I say this because the others seem oblivious to his presence, giving him no more attention than they would a wall painting.

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