photo sharing and upload picture albums photo forums search pictures popular photos photography help login
Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Forty-Three: When doors, arches and gates express ideas > Veiling, Tineghir, Morocco, 2006
previous | next
21-DEC-2006

Veiling, Tineghir, Morocco, 2006

While walking thorough Tinegir’s medina, I saw this woman struggling to veil herself at the door to a home. The moment is both abstract and incongruous, and rich in human values as well. It is the doorway that gives the image it’s meaning. The woman is going out into public and thus must dress appropriately to her faith and convictions. The door symbolizes her private world. The space before it is the threshold of the public world. When she leaves that step, her body must be completely covered. And it was.

Leica V-Lux 1
1/200s f/4.5 at 23.3mm iso100 hide exif
Full EXIF Info
Date/Time21-Dec-2006 03:56:18
MakeLeica
ModelV-LUX 1
Flash UsedNo
Focal Length23.3 mm
Exposure Time1/200 sec
Aperturef/4.5
ISO Equivalent100
Exposure Bias-0.33
White Balance
Metering Modemulti spot (3)
JPEG Quality
Exposure Programprogram (2)
Focus Distance

other sizes: small medium large original auto
share
Phil Douglis17-Jan-2007 22:31
Thanks, Ceci, for your vivid commentary on this image. i iike your thought about the nature of portable armor, of the intimate nature of changing clothes in public, and the context given to the image by its primitive surroundings. This may be an impermanent and changeable world, yet this building is probably hundreds of years old and the traditions implied by her garment are even older. While change may be a constant, this image also expresses the timeless nature of both the place and the act.
Guest 17-Jan-2007 21:43
Mein Gott, this person looks as if she's caught up in the laundry she's hanging, but of course, she's just arranging her draped clothing. Having spent a year in India as a student under a subtropical sun, surrounded by people clad in multiple layers of cloth, I can attest to the cooling and protective effects of such garb. But this rather intimate moment of emerging into the open while gathering her "portable armor" around her is also an image that is all askew, with everything tilted -- the sign, steps, wall, the letterboxes set flush, the human, seeming to signify the hand-made quality of building and the people who constructed it. There appears even to be a bit of trash suspended in the air to her left, as though a stiff breeze is blowing, which suggests how impermanent and changeable our various worlds are. A telling, timeless, very human photo. Thank you, Phil!
Phil Douglis12-Jan-2007 19:02
Thanks, Tim, for pointing out the connection between this image and the Ark athttp://www.pbase.com/pnd1/image/72900070 While different in style and coloration, both images reflect religious beliefs. The Torah is veiled within its doors by my framing, and this woman observers her faith by veiling herself before her own door.
Tim May12-Jan-2007 18:19
I am reminded of the first image in this gallery of the arch and the torah - both deal with the interaction of light and dark and the role that religion plays in enlightening and veiling the human condition.
Type your message and click Add Comment
It is best to login or register first but you may post as a guest.
Enter an optional name and contact email address. Name
Name Email
help private comment