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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Three: Expressing human values > Train watcher, La Posada, Winslow, Arizona, 2006
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10-JUL-2006

Train watcher, La Posada, Winslow, Arizona, 2006

La Posada, a former Harvey House, once catered to passengers of the Santa Fe railroad. The hotel was oriented so that its back door faced Route 66 and its front door led directly to the Santa Fe tracks. Passengers arriving in Winslow could walk directly from their coaches into the hotel lobby. The hotel was recently restored to its original condition, and its front door still faces the tracks. The Santa Fe Railroad is gone, and its successor, the Burlington Northern Santa Fe, carries mostly freight. La Posada's guests, particularly children, enjoy watching them clatter past. Two sets of relationships express human values in this image. The child’s arms form an inverted “V” as they rest on the fence. Right next to him, an old tree that no doubt once shaded arriving passengers in the 1920s and 30s, spreads its limbs in a “V” as well. It seems to salute both the child and the passing freight train – a salute that echoes both yesterday and today. I also bring the eye into the image with a diagonal curb leading to three empty lounge chairs of vintage design. To me, they represent the spirits of past passengers that always will watch the trains rumble past La Posada.

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Phil Douglis30-Jan-2008 01:02
Yes, Norman Rockwell always seemed to choose nostalgic themes for his paintings, often involving childhood dreams. The late afternoon light is idyllic, and therefore Rockwellian. Generations of children grew up with memories of watching trains roll through the small Arizona towns along the main line of the Santa Fe Railroad. This image takes us back there, as you say.
Guest 30-Jan-2008 00:58
What is it about this photo that reminds me of a Norman Rockwell painting? It is a picture of everyday life in which the details tell a story. What little boy is not fascinated by trains. The lighting in the photo brings us back in time.
V.
Phil Douglis13-Sep-2006 16:33
I am sure you made many images rich in Arizona colors and sunshine while you were here with me, Christine. I am looking forward to seeing your own gallery soon. Thanks for noting these characteristics - living here, we come to take them for granted. It is nice to have someone see them with fresh eyes now and then.
Christine P. Newman13-Sep-2006 04:36
Phil, I can see the human values, but also the so typical Arizona colours. So much sunshine.
Phil Douglis29-Aug-2006 04:29
Thanks for the question, Jude. There is no right or wrong way to read the photos in my cyberbook. If you choose to study the images before reading the context that I and others might bring to them, and come to your own conclusions, that is fine. Then you can read the context and see how your own instinctive response compares with my intentions. Or you can read my intentions first, and then study the image to see how your own instincts match mine. Do it either way, Jude. But do it!

Thanks for seeing the universal theme here first, Jude -- a childhood passion for trains is a perfectly logical point to this picture. But then, in reading my context, you can read this a travel photograph. Remember, this cyberbook is essentially devoted to travel imagery. Seeing a fascinated child here is fine, but the point of this picture comes down to where he is, rather than who he is.
Jude Marion28-Aug-2006 12:41
I see lots of things happening in this image. I read your description, and know that this hotel once welcomed passengers coming directly off the trains. But initially, without the blurb, I was first struck by the universal interest that all little boys seem to have with trains, and wondered if this fellow was lucky enough to have a full scale modeling set in his own back yard! Then there are the emply chairs. He is not sitting there, passively watching the scene, but standing ... right against the fence, intently watching some unseen action. The central tree divides these activities within the frame for me.
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