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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Twenty Six : Using reflections to transform reality > Past meets present, San Francisco, California, 2007
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08-JUN-2007

Past meets present, San Francisco, California, 2007

Walking past an art gallery, I noticed a painting in the window depicting pioneer life in the American West. What happened to that America? I photograph the reflection of a busy city street that appears on the gallery window. The reflection is filled with traffic, garbage cans, and commercial buildings, which overwhelm the historical painting. A pioneer woman seems to look with dismay on what her sacrifices have produced.

Leica V-Lux 1
1/125s f/3.6 at 12.8mm iso100 full exif

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Phil Douglis24-Jun-2007 18:30
Thanks, Mo. The obvious in photography does not take us very far. It is subtlety that provokes your curiosity here, and curiosity often leads to discovery.
monique jansen24-Jun-2007 09:50
You got me interested and consciously looking for reflections, this is a very special one, because it is not so obvious at first sight.
Phil Douglis22-Jun-2007 23:37
You are making a similar point to mine, Daniel, with your reflection. The key to finding interesting reflections is to study reflective surfaces more closely. Sometimes as we move and as we darken part of the reflection with our own shadows, amazing things happen, things that are not always obvious at first glance. Photographic seeing involves working and thinking and testing. It is not a casual exercise.
Guest 22-Jun-2007 22:05
Great eye Phil! I myself always have a hard time spotting out interesting reflections. This reminds me of a photo I recently took in Buenos Aires:

http://www.pbase.com/danieldy/image/80281103

Subte, which is short for "subterraneo", is the subway system of Buenos Aires. I found it interesting to juxtapose the two images of the subte sign with the city centre in the background. In some ways the image also compares the past vs the present. While the city centre is centuries old, it still more than holds its own against something as modern and glitzy as the subway system.
Phil Douglis21-Jun-2007 18:54
Thanks, Jenene -- the female figures might be seen as metaphorical nuturers. What they nurturered is now fully grown, and I can sense a bit of disapproval in the hand-to-hip body language of the dominant figure.
JSWaters21-Jun-2007 05:21
How magical this is, Phil. The blending of the past with the present occurs so easily along the diagonal from top left to bottom right. It's made even better by the repetition of the two female figures, both pioneers in their own right perhaps.
Jenene
Phil Douglis20-Jun-2007 18:23
Thanks, Ceci, for noting the role of the golden glow here -- the Old West appears nostalgic and magical, while the present day fades to neutrality.
Guest 20-Jun-2007 17:21
This is lovely, Phil, and so spookily interesting! You have perfectly blended the ages, layering the winning (ruining) of the west with a modern metropolis, and showing in one photo what we have come out of from a simpler time-- sleek horseless carriages, stop lights, electricity, moving pictures and the ubiquitous advertising. I love the fabulous golden glow that the painting gives to this picture, and the seamlessness of the "segue" from past to present.
Phil Douglis19-Jun-2007 23:22
Thanks, Tom, for this comment. It is indeed layered in time -- with no post processing manipulation, either. Everything here was in that window.
Tomasz Dziubinski - Photography19-Jun-2007 21:56
Very nice, I like all these layers :)
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