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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Three: Expressing human values > Intersection, Marrakesh, Morocco, 2006
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29-DEC-2006

Intersection, Marrakesh, Morocco, 2006

Street corners often will often present contrasting stories – each invisible to the other. I saw this man sitting helplessly on one side of this building – alone, and perhaps homeless, ill and distressed. He holds his hands to his face, hiding from both my camera and the world. I saw three women coming down the other side of the building towards him. They do not notice him yet. This trio appears to be members of a family and their body language gives evidence of support and caring among them. This image incongruously compares the human values displayed by the women to those expressed by the man. The fact that each party is invisible to the other here intensifies this contrast.

Leica V-Lux 1
1/800s f/8.0 at 88.8mm iso100 full exif

other sizes: small medium large original auto
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Phil Douglis20-May-2018 22:38
Thanks, Merri, for seeing tension as an important human value running through this image, supported by the contrasting human values of comfort and discomfort. Your imagination is at the center of your interpretation -- you are focused more on what may be about to happen here than what was actually happening at the moment I made this image. And that is a wonderful gift that this image has given you - it has stimulated your imagination to ask questions and demand answers of a photographic image. And that is one more great reason for us to make photographs that express ideas.
Merri 19-May-2018 23:21
Yes, what a contrast - mundane, comfortable discussion between the women and obvious discomfort /despair emanating from the man out of sight, just around the corner. One will have to forever wonder: will the women engage with him (charity being an exceptionally important Muslim value) or will they ignore him? A very tense moment for the observer of this scene.
Phil Douglis24-Aug-2007 23:34
I greatly appreciate your thoughtful comment here, Cyndy -- the vertical line can indeed be read as the line between those who are loved and those who are left. It made me feel sad as well -- that is why I made the image -- to express my own feelings about what I am seeing here. I will often "work" a corner of a building in order to simultaneously contrast the values and lives of people on separate streets. Try it yourself.
Guest 24-Aug-2007 23:13
That thin line running up the wall is evocative of the barrier between the two groups of people--loving family and homeless person. Makes me sad.
Phil Douglis23-Apr-2007 03:14
Thanks for being the first to visit this image, Don -- I often shoot street corners, allowing the viewer to see things that the people in the image can not see. The fact that the man is probably hiding his face from the camera makes the picture work. The three women can 't see the man. And the man has no idea they are coming, nor can he see me.
Donald Verger22-Apr-2007 21:03
amazing! v
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