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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Thirty Four: Photographing the tourist in all of us > Tourist Trail, Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah, 2006
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20-SEP-2006

Tourist Trail, Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah, 2006

Bryce, like most National Parks, is designed for tourists. I incorporate nine of them into this image as they walk the trails and photograph the ancient hoodoos from close vantage points. This image tells the story of both Bryce and those who come to marvel at its geological splendors. The colors are unlike anything, anywhere. The figures are tiny, incongruously dwarfed by their surroundings. They do the things tourists do at Bryce, hike, talk, shoot, and shoot some more. There is an image everywhere you go at Bryce. And there are tourists everywhere you go, as well.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ50
1/160s f/4.0 at 10.8mm iso100 full exif

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Phil Douglis29-Oct-2006 06:28
Thanks for seeing so much in this, Ceci -- I had not looked at the spires as symbolic ancient people but once we do, the image certainly takes on new meaning. I did see the people as tiny and insignifcant,dwarfed by the natural wonder that surrounds them. No matter how many busloads of tourists are funneled through Bryce Canyon, the scale of the place overwhelms them. I love your metaphor of ants upon the earth. It is both amusing and significant at the same time. Thank you.
Guest 29-Oct-2006 06:24
A fabulously graphic shot, made special and given scale by the presence of all the gawkers. The ancient "people" standing sillent on the right must get a charge out of so many humans struggling to capture them and their vista -- people awed by the colors, formations, wierdly eroded layers, holes and toppings, and wanting to carry what they have seen back into "civilization" inside their little magic boxes. This is a delicious and somehow amusing scene of little ants swarming across Mother Earth, one of my most favorite things you have done, Phil.
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