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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery One: Travel Abstractions -- Unlimited Thought > Horn in horn, Antelope Island State Park, Utah, 2006
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23-SEP-2006

Horn in horn, Antelope Island State Park, Utah, 2006

Nearly 700 bison graze on Antelope Island, just north of Salt Lake City in the Great Salt Lake. Two bulls were softly jousting only a few feet from our car window. I only show one eye, two horns, and the rest is grass and shoulders. The thin stalks of grass frame the eye, while the locked horns express the competitive spirit within a bison herd. Instead of showing the bison here, I abstract them to imply their presence and demeanor.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ50
1/320s f/5.6 at 79.1mm iso100 hide exif
Full EXIF Info
Date/Time23-Sep-2006 17:32:15
MakePanasonic
ModelDMC-FZ50
Flash UsedNo
Focal Length79.1 mm
Exposure Time1/320 sec
Aperturef/5.6
ISO Equivalent100
Exposure Bias-0.33
White Balance
Metering Modemulti spot (3)
JPEG Quality
Exposure Programprogram (2)
Focus Distance

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Phil Douglis04-Aug-2007 18:55
As you yourself said elsewhere in my galleries, Patricia, "less" is often "more" in photography. Abstraction is based on that principle. I show much less of these buffalo here than we would usually see, and in doing so, I magnify the sense of struggle and combat. Altough they are only play-acting, your imagination can see it as a death struggle, and it makes you gasp. Such is the power of abstract photography. Thank you for this comment.
Patricia Lay-Dorsey04-Aug-2007 16:33
Oh yes, so strong. The framing of the eye and DOF focusing on the grasses rather than the bison is so effective. I feel their power and their interlocking horns of struggle, a struggle that could lead to death. This image makes me gasp!
Phil Douglis29-Jun-2007 17:45
You put it perfectly, Daniel. Abstraction is the art of saying more by showing less, thereby allowing the imagination of the viewer to create its own story.
Guest 28-Jun-2007 22:56
Abstraction truly is the art of hiding. By hiding the bodies of the bisons, you have eliminated any distracting elements, allowing the viewer to focus on the locked horns, eye, and shoulder which elevate the feeling of competitiveness, wildnerness, and restrained power.
Phil Douglis04-May-2007 00:00
Thanks, Dandan. Yes, it is the catchlight in that eye that grabs the viewer. They were fighting very close to the road, and I am using a long telephoto focal length of 374mm (35mm equivalent) here. That's how I was able to make that eye so large.
Guest 03-May-2007 22:59
wow, you were so close to them! the eye is really the focus point, it just draws all the attention to it. very powerful!
Phil Douglis29-Jan-2007 05:42
Thanks, Sam -- you are right about that dry grass. The grass is sharper than the buffalo, and gives us a feeling that we are watching them joust from the safety of a hide.
Sam Bliss29-Jan-2007 01:48
Softly jousting now, but latter it will be quite different.
Without the dry grass it would be a very different image. The stalks help bring out the soft eye
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