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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Fifty One: Using diagonals for guidance, energy, and meaning > Caged pigs at market, Vinh Long, Vietnam, 2008
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03-JAN-2008

Caged pigs at market, Vinh Long, Vietnam, 2008

There is a double diagonal effect to this image – the backs of these pigs each forms an individual diagonal, and the resulting row of pigs itself flows in a single diagonal line from upper left to lower right. It was important to break this diagonal flow with just one visible head. The pigs were eating at this moment and I waited for one to stop and raise its head for just an instant. That pig is still part of the diagonal orientation, but at the same time, it also becomes distinct from it – a point of emphasis.

Leica V-Lux 1
1/5s f/3.2 at 13.5mm iso100 full exif

other sizes: small medium large original auto
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Phil Douglis16-Jan-2009 19:53
I agree, Christine -- the subjects are the same and the vantage points are the same, but the concepts we express are quite different. Your image expresses genetic diversity, while I am demonstrating how to create emphasis by breaking diagonal rhythms. Thanks for showing us how the same subject matter can produce widely divergent ideas.
Christine P. Newman16-Jan-2009 04:02
Phil, I understand that the principle is different, but it reminded me ofhttp://www.pbase.com/christinepnewman/image/63172496 -
Phil Douglis23-Nov-2008 20:06
Thanks, Dave -- I don't know if I have anticipated the moment of truth here, as much as I have simply recognized a moment of truth as it occurred. I always look for something that is at odds with the pack, and that is what is happening here.
Dave Wyman23-Nov-2008 03:12
Phil, you so often have the uncanny ability to anticipate the moment of truth - you've certainly done that here.
Phil Douglis21-Feb-2008 23:48
Good to have you back in my galleries, Suwanee, and thanks, as always, for your kind comments. I was drawn to this situation by the tight batch of diagonal backs, and then just had to wait for something to happen to break the symmetry. As you noted, one head popped up, and this image was the result.
Guest 21-Feb-2008 05:03
Wow Phil, As I am getting back into studying your images again, I am in awe of your brilliant example of the diagonal lines as well as the expressiveness of the image revealed in the crowdedness of the pigs, the bewildering eye, and the timing of the one head to pop up from the rest. Your photos never failed to teach. Thank you.
Phil Douglis07-Feb-2008 22:34
I agree, Tim. So much is expressed by the one pig whose head is visible. There is both resignation and even a touch of the fear and panic you note. It is almost as if it knows what awaits.
Tim May07-Feb-2008 21:21
That eye! It is wonderfully sharp and so telling - I see fear and panic in that eye.
Phil Douglis01-Feb-2008 21:33
Thanks, Rusty, for visiting this image and talking of its meaning. I saw resignation on the face of that one pig that can't get his head into the feed. I know that pigs don't feel resigned, but I feel that he is resigned to it, and that is good enough for me, and I hope it will good enough for my viewers as well. And yes, Jamie Wyeth painted a portrait of a pig. It's at:http://www.jamiewyeth.com/pig.html To me, that pig looks very self-satisfied. (Even if that is an oxymoron.)


russellt01-Feb-2008 13:50
a ridiculous sounding comment would be "beautiful light on the pigs", such quality coming as it so often does in such a small quantity. such light is often sufficient reason for me to enjoy a photo. but then the look on the pig's face could hardly be more expressive, another ridiculous sounding comment. I too have heard those stories of how pigs know. I'm going to have to take another look at that painting of a pig, I think it's by jamie wyeth.
Phil Douglis20-Jan-2008 05:55
Crowded to the extreme. There was hardly room for that one pig to lift his head above the backs of the others. But he did, and he kept the diagonal composition intact as well.
Alina20-Jan-2008 05:16
What a crowded place:) I like that diagonal composition with one piggy that is looking right at us.
Phil Douglis19-Jan-2008 20:47
And that is why I made the shot -- without that one little piggy, there is no focal point, no contrast, and no idea.
monique jansen19-Jan-2008 09:46
One little piggy stands out of the crowd
Phil Douglis19-Jan-2008 05:37
Well said, Ceci. What you don't hear here are the screams. That's what got to me. As for the sharp knives that will surely come to their throats, I wanted this image to imply what is coming. I know these pigs are feeding but they may just as well be cowering. You are right about those internal organs. When I had a heart valve replaced seven years ago, they asked me if I wanted a pig's heart valve, or an artificial valve. The pig valve lasts about ten to twelve years and then it must be replaced. The artificial valve should last as long as I last. My decision was a no-brainer.
Guest 19-Jan-2008 02:46
Given the white of this little piggy's eye as it looks backward at you, I would say that it's indicative of how highly sensitive these animals are, and that even while feeding something occured to alert one of them. I've read that pigs on their way to slaughter will often stress themselves to death, knowing that something dire is about to occur. These are highly intelligent creatures whose use as human food will probably go on forever, given the sublime scent that roasting pig makes in the house. But at the same time, we've become dependent upon many of the swine's internal organs as transplants for humans (because they are so similar to ours), which to me elevates them to a different level -- aside from the business of killing them for food. This is a telling photo, beautifully composed, and happily only showing that one little face -- for we know that soon they will fall prey to the terror of sharp knives.
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