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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Three: Expressing human values > Changing of the Guard, Toksugung Palace, Seoul, Korea, 2006
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17-MAR-2006

Changing of the Guard, Toksugung Palace, Seoul, Korea, 2006

Several times each day, a historical pageant unfolds before this historic palace in downtown Seoul as new guards arrive to relieve the old. And history takes on a human dimension when one of them cracks a small but meaningful smile. Using a long zoom lens to blur the background and bring my subject closer, I framed the smiling guardsman with a series of lances, creating a diagonal counterpoint to his own.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ30
1/100s f/4.5 at 63.9mm iso80 hide exif
Full EXIF Info
Date/Time17-Mar-2005 21:50:40
MakePanasonic
ModelDMC-FZ30
Flash UsedNo
Focal Length63.9 mm
Exposure Time1/100 sec
Aperturef/4.5
ISO Equivalent80
Exposure Bias0.70
White Balance (10)
Metering Modemulti spot (3)
JPEG Quality (6)
Exposure Programprogram (2)
Focus Distance

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Phil Douglis20-May-2018 23:09
Glad you had a chance to visit South Korea, Merri. I saw the same contrasts you observed, and the thread of humor you mention as well. Often contrast can bring out humor, because contrasts are often incongruous, and humor is as well. In this case, I found it amusing that all the guys on the left hold their lances one way, and the fellow at the right holds his in another way, (and subtly smiles as he does so.)
Merri 20-May-2018 00:09
It's interesting to me that many of the places you've photographically documented I've visited or want to visit. I had the chance to visit South Korea in the late 90s. A lovely country with great contrast between traditional and the modern. And what I appreciated most of all: a thread of humor that runs through everything. I see this here.
Phil Douglis02-Jun-2006 18:39
I like it too, Ana, for the very reasons you cite here. They are small things, to be sure -- the suppressed smile, the colorful costumes, the diagonal lances -- but they humanize history for us and make us join in the pleasure of the moment. I've used human values here - in this case humor and whimsy -- to define history for what it really is: the story of people through time.
Ana Carloto O'Shea02-Jun-2006 18:10
The way you've managed to catch that one guard smilling makes up for at lest 2/3 of the photo... Everyone else is so serious and well I am sure that the cerimony would require that, but it's beautiful to see that one of the men for some reason broke the norm and was smilling :) I guess that these small things make us love photography so much..
I like your choice for the composition, the diagonals created by the lances look perfect actually. I like it very much.
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