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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Forty-Three: When doors, arches and gates express ideas > Stairway, El Badi Palace, Marrakesh, Morocco, 2006
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27-DEC-2006

Stairway, El Badi Palace, Marrakesh, Morocco, 2006

Also known as the Palace of the Incomparable, this 16th century ruin has lost its beauty but retains its mystery. This is why I made this image – I photograph the textures of the sun-drenched wall at left, which quickly yields to the darkness of a public stairway to the Palace’s upper terrace. Within this darkness there is a patch of light containing a doorway, two visitors and their shadows. The tiny people are overwhelmed by the size of the castle they are about to explore. This image is all about mystery. In a ruin this large, the mysteries are large as well. (The palace had 360 rooms, took twenty five years to build, and was destroyed only 100 years after it was finished.) The tiny people entering a small door in a large black void symbolize the size and depth of those mysteries.

Leica V-Lux 1
1/500s f/5.6 at 7.4mm iso100 full exif

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Phil Douglis20-Apr-2007 18:23
Thanks, Charu, for joining my students Kal, Tim, Jenene, and Ceci in telling me how this image has stirred your imagination. As each person shares his or her insights with me, my own perception of this image evolves as well. An effective image keeps on growing. That's part of the magic of expressive photography.
Guest 20-Apr-2007 04:33
Thank you, Phil. I agree - a great photograph is one with only a few elements but open to imagination and interpretation by the viewer... and this image does just that for me... makes me think about it
Phil Douglis19-Apr-2007 17:41
Thank you, Charu. You are seeing this image as metaphor, which marks a significant step in the process of moving from photography as description to photography as expression. I leave the ultimate meaning of this image up to each viewer -- it is my task to set the stage, to trigger the imagination, and I am glad you came up with this meaning. I am always moved when people love my images, particularly when they are able to tell me why. Thanks for letting your imagination go to work here.
Guest 19-Apr-2007 12:17
Wonderful image, Phil! I see this as what happens in life itself - we move from the known (where there is light) to the unknown (darkness)... and yet somewhere we all know and hope that there is light again at the end iof it... I love this image.
Phil Douglis17-Jan-2007 22:46
You see it as the gate of heaven, Ceci. That speaks to your optimisitic soul. I saw it as a step into the unknown. They are in the light at the bottom of the image. They step into the darkness, walking on light, as Kal notes. Above them looms the cave-like wall which speaks of mystery and time. Thanks for the comment -- it shows us how flexible the human imagination really is. What see, is what we are.
Guest 17-Jan-2007 22:17
This looks to me like prisoners escaping into the light of freedom. It's an intensely powerful shot, with its small brilliant portal into the future, away from the weight, dark and massive past, or even life. It could be souls entering heaven after a tough time on earth. A wonderful image!
Phil Douglis12-Jan-2007 19:50
Once again, Tim and Jenene meet at the same image, within minutes of each other. I had hoped to make the visitors movements and destinations ambiguous --are they seeking sanctuary? Are they being lured into a trap? Such is the value of abstraction. It leaves the answers up to each viewer. Tim sees flight. Jenene sees them as but a fleeting moment in the long history of El Badi. Thank you both for seeing this image in different ways.
JSWaters12-Jan-2007 19:44
Whether the figures are walking on light or rushing from it, they are but a briefly illuminated moment in this ruin's history.
Jenene
Tim May12-Jan-2007 17:53
Perhaps it's because of the brightness of the light but it seems to me as if the figures are rushing - rushing from overpowering light - through darkness to the warm light.
Phil Douglis11-Jan-2007 19:20
Walking on light -- what a wonderful thought, Kal. I wnted to contrast the glowing doorway to the moody blackness and the ancient tunnel-like wall that leads up from it. Thanks for seeing what I was trying to do here.
Kal Khogali11-Jan-2007 14:44
One of your greatest images EVER Phil. You have taken it to the point where it feels almost unreal, as if they are walking on light. K
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