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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Five: Using the frame to define ideas > Mare Island Shipyard, San Francisco, California, 2007
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10-JUN-2007

Mare Island Shipyard, San Francisco, California, 2007

This naval shipyard was established in 1854, and closed in 1996. It was the Navy's oldest base on the west coast, building 512 ships and repairing hundreds more. During World War II, the shipyard population reached 46,000. Today, its giant derricks stand silent. I placed three of those derricks within the metal framework of an abandoned dry-dock as a curtain of clouds descends upon them. This frame within a frame adds to the sense of isolation and desolation in the image.

Leica V-Lux 1
1/1300s f/11.0 at 24.2mm iso100 full exif

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Phil Douglis13-Jul-2007 22:35
Yes, the industrial age did end with its machines slowly rusting away in disuse as these are. Thanks, Kal, for seeing its epitaph here. The abandoned derricks bend like mourners at the grave of the age of steam, steel, and iron.
Kal Khogali13-Jul-2007 20:33
Very symbolic of the finality of the industrial age...it all ends with the machines. K
Phil Douglis22-Jun-2007 22:42
Thanks, Daniel, for making this observation. It is a very important one. Many photographers build their images on form and technique alone. They rarely think about what a picture says. As a teacher of photographic communication and expression, I have always believed in the old Bauhaus dictum: "Form follows function." I choose the technique and organize my image aesthetically based entirely on what I am trying to express -- the meaning of my picture.
Many photographers stop short of working for meaning because they are not sure, or even conscious, of what it is they want to say in their images. They make beautiful pictures for the sake of their beauty alone. There is nothing wrong with beauty for its own sake, but I would argue that we can give our viewers more than that if we are willing to think about what it is we are trying to say and buiild our images around that meaning. As we see from the responses I get here, meaning varies from viewer to viewer. And that is all right, too. Expressive photographs, like any other form of artistic expression, are aimed at the human imagination, and once an image enters the imagination of a viewer, their own contexts go to work and alter meaning accordingly.
Guest 22-Jun-2007 21:25
Another aspect I love about your work and how you view things is how you do not merely include something for aesthetics but for meaning as well. If I took the same picture, and you were to ask me "why is it framed the way it is?" I would simply reply "I think it looks better that way because it fills the negative space, leading the viewers eyes into the picture." However, you have a different take on it. There is MEANING behind everything you do, and I love it. Adding a sense of isolation and desolation-- I would have never thought of that. You are truly amazing. Sometimes I wonder if its just me and if I simply don't think that deep into the images I capture. I'm scared that I merely seek to photograph things because of aesthetics and not for a deeper meaning.
Phil Douglis20-Jun-2007 17:40
Thank you, Tricia. What is it that turns old shipyard derricks into an "art piece?" I would answer that by abstracting them, and presenting them within a structural context acting as a frame within a frame, these objects become symbolic of isolation and desolation and trigger the imagination of the viewer. I am not describing the subject, but rather interpreteting it as a form of expression.
flowsnow20-Jun-2007 15:08
Phil, This shot gives me the impression of it being an art piece.
Phil Douglis19-Jun-2007 23:28
You are seeing these derricks in the context of a former naval shipyard, so it is natural to equate them with guns and violence. Violent machines were made here. And you are right about the loose containment -- the frame itself is full of openings.
Carol E Sandgren19-Jun-2007 22:02
The derricks remind me of guns which would change this image into one of violence. I like how they fit within that framework as if loosely contained.
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