Rush hour oasis, 23rd Street, New York City, 2006 photo

Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Twenty Six : Using reflections to transform reality > Rush hour oasis, 23rd Street, New York City, 2006

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07-AUG-2006

Rush hour oasis, 23rd Street, New York City, 2006

A reflection helps me create this layered image of a woman having a cup of coffee and reading a document while ignoring the chaos of rush hour swirling around her. A large window reflects a subway entrance, with bikes locked to its cage-like bars. The reflected bars metaphorically lock the woman into a routine she repeats five days a week. The window also reflects a blurred taxi and scurrying pedestrians, merging them into the woman, who never looks up from her reading. She lives in a maelstrom and somehow accepts it as normalcy.

Leica D-Lux 2
1/20s f/4.9 at 23.2mm iso100 hide exif

Full EXIF Info
Date/Time	07-Aug-2006 06:56:55
Make	Leica
Model	D-LUX2
Flash Used	No
Focal Length	23.2 mm
Exposure Time	1/20 sec
Aperture	f/4.9
ISO Equivalent	100
Exposure Bias	-0.33
White Balance
Metering Mode	multi spot (3)
JPEG Quality	(6)
Exposure Program	program (2)
Focus Distance

other sizes: small medium large original auto

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Phil Douglis		19-Jan-2008 04:50
I never use Polarizing filters to remove reflections. I welcome reflections as a potential layer of meaning. Why would I want to remove them? Because somebody else want me to? So yes, Vera -- as an expressive photographer, I am always looking for reflections and what they might say when superimposed on a subject. Obviously it works in this case.

Guest		10-Jan-2008 14:44
I prefer to think she is reading some wonderful love letter rather than a document ...ha ha. What else could cause her to be so absorbed? This is a wonderful photo, which so much can be read into. I am amazed at how reflections can add so much to a photo, especially the ones with the windows as we are often thought to use a filter to get rid of the reflection, but what about actually seeking out the reflections themselves as you seem to have done. Vera

Phil Douglis		14-Nov-2006 01:33
You feel comfortable because you identify with her apparent comfort.

Guest		13-Nov-2006 13:33
I'm just flooded with visual info but i feel strangely comfortable.

Phil Douglis		22-Aug-2006 19:26
I don't miss it either, Jenene. A week of New York was great and the back to the desert. This image does portray the mental isolation you speak of. She has become so conditioned to the chaos around here that she doesn't even see it anymore. But we do.

JSWaters		22-Aug-2006 19:15
A testimony to the adaptability of the human species. The world can be mind numbingly intrusive, and yet we have the wherewithal to nurture ourselves with an almost total mental isolation. I don't really miss this kind of chaos. Jenene

Phil Douglis		18-Aug-2006 19:42
You catch the essence of this shot, Ai Li, with your comment. Chaos is everywhere, but in such places as this, we must tune out and focus on is meaningful. The paper she reads is more important than the crowd surging about her head and the taxi about to coast into her. She cuts them all out, and relaxes behind those bars --her daily routine -- that will keep, for the moment anyway, the world at bay.

AL		18-Aug-2006 09:53
A brilliant reflection and juxtaposition of different elements. I really like how you put all together, yet cutting her away from everything. Moving crowd, busy traffic and even modes of transport to get you where you should be or want to be. But she chose a moment of solitude and silence, indulging in her coffee and reading. While the rest of the world passed by and time was clicking away. But after the moment, she would be back to the chaos soon again. That's everyday life for many of us! But you nicely showed us the wonderful moment of knowing when to stop and breath :-)

Phil Douglis		14-Aug-2006 18:23
The perfect word for this scene, Kal -- cacophony. New York and your own Shanghai have much in common. Both cities throb with vitality and energy and often balance on the edge of chaos. And yes, a cup of coffee helps in either place.

Kal Khogali		14-Aug-2006 14:51
I love the cacophony of this image, the ubiquotouos cup of coffee is poignant...after all it is the Opium of Capitalism...ahhh...now I can relax ;-)K

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