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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Three: Expressing human values > Two Worlds, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, 2005
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27-OCT-2005

Two Worlds, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, 2005

In San Miguel, as in other parts of Mexico, there is often a striking contrast of life-styles between the young and the not so young. These women were waiting at a bus stop, looking at each other in silence. Both women display similarly impassive expressions, but great differences in appearance. I used the full extent of my 420mm telephoto zoom to reach across a busy street and make this image. It is a study in contrasts. One woman wears the traditional shawl; the other wears trousers that drag on the ground. One instinctively hides her arms within her clothing while the other carries a bag of fruit in one hand and bag of schoolbooks on her back. One modestly covers her head, while the other does not. All of these contrasts imply differences between traditional and contemporary value systems within the same culture.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ30
1/25s f/3.7 at 88.8mm iso80 hide exif
Full EXIF Info
Date/Time27-Oct-2005 18:14:09
MakePanasonic
ModelDMC-FZ30
Flash UsedNo
Focal Length88.8 mm
Exposure Time1/25 sec
Aperturef/3.7
ISO Equivalent80
Exposure Bias-0.33
White Balance (10)
Metering Modemulti spot (3)
JPEG Quality (6)
Exposure Programprogram (2)
Focus Distance

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Phil Douglis12-Nov-2006 20:20
Thanks, Theodore, for sharing your own image with us. The subject -- "The Old and the Young" -- may be similar, but there is a striking difference between our images. In my image, there is a distance between them that will never be bridged. In your image, there is a sense of understanding and mutual compassion.
Guest 12-Nov-2006 14:06
Nicely written paragraph about the contrasts. Reminds me of the picture i took while in Paris.http://www.pbase.com/theodorelee/image/48333048

The girl young lady on the right was in the seminary studying to be a nun. I recognised her because where fortunate enough to stay with the nuns at the Sacre-Coeur on Montmarte.
Phil Douglis29-Jul-2006 00:08
The ground both unites and separates them, Emi. They are from the same land, and they share it here. Yet there is distance between them that neither can bridge.
Guest 28-Jul-2006 17:14
The ground they were standing on also separates them. I like mike's observation, and both women are different but still have a lot of things in common, maybe because they belong to the same root - same country, city even. That is also another kind of humanity.

Emi
Phil Douglis15-Nov-2005 17:44
Thanks, Mo -- as I mentioned to Mikel below, we may not know the full story here. They could indeed be mother and daughter; grandmother and granddaughter; or aunt and niece, or perhaps, as I've assumed here, perfect strangers. This image is a world of opposites, playing against each other within the context we bring to this picture. But if that context should change, everything changes.
monique jansen15-Nov-2005 15:08
A world of opposites at play again: young versus old, tradition versus modernity, backpack versus shawl, native versus white person (although that is probably not the case), grandmother and granddaughter maybe?? Questions...
Phil Douglis12-Nov-2005 03:08
You are right again, Mikel. The hostility, if there, is subtle and hidden. And there is very definitely a mirror image of sorts here. They make me think of the same person, too -- both before, and after. Something else just struck me: Since I don't know who these people are, it just might be possible that they may even be related, and while waiting for the same bus, are "cooling it." In which case, the image would take on an entirely different context. In any event, thanks for the comment and for raising these issues. Once again, you help me prove the worth of expressive travel photography in terms of its ability to trigger the imaginations of its viewers.
Guest 12-Nov-2005 02:38
Undoutably there is a kind of hostility to the faces of both women, somehow, for the reason that the old women is with her eyes closed while the young one is looking strait at her the agresivity seems to come more from the left side of the picture. On the other hand, it is quite like a mirror of them both, it is true that there is a clothing incongruity between both of them, but on the other hand they have certain facial similarities that make me thing of the same person in two different stages of their life and two different circumastances. All in all, different but extreemly simillar at the same time.
Phil Douglis12-Nov-2005 01:59
Good to hear from you again, Alexeig. As for Picasso's Blue Period, I think I see the connection. So many of Picasso's paintings at that time were of people who were dispassionate and expressionless. Such as the couple at the Lapin Agile (1905)

http://www.blesok.com.mk/gallery.asp?lang=eng&izdanie=32&avtor=873&mediaID=1537
alexeig11-Nov-2005 20:39
Nice to see your new work, Phil. Great moment caught, both ladies are united by their common sad feeling. This vaguely reminds me of portrayal of sadness by Picasso in his blue period
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