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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery One: Travel Abstractions -- Unlimited Thought > The brooms cometh, Hanoi, Vietnam, 2007
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17-DEC-2007

The brooms cometh, Hanoi, Vietnam, 2007

This woman sells brooms from a bicycle in Hanoi. Because she spends her entire day riding the polluted streets of the city, she has masked almost her entire face and wears her conical hat low over her eyes. The combination of mask and hat abstract her face – she is unidentifiable. My vantage point incongruously blankets her in a sea of colorful feathers and straw – abstracting her once again, and making her into more of an apparition than a tradesperson.

Leica V-Lux 1
1/400s f/5.6 at 49.6mm iso200 full exif

other sizes: small medium large original auto
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Phil Douglis28-Jan-2009 21:10
Thanks, Shawn, for noting the relationship of captions and titles to photographic meaning. Having a degree in Journalism, I have always regarded words and pictures as partners. Each does what it does best. In this case, the words of the title provide context, telling you what this woman does. The image then goes beyond the words, and asks you to wonder how she must feel, and indeed, how she manages to even survive.
Guest 28-Jan-2009 18:42
I think without your caption below this image I would drawn different conclusions. I would not know from looking at this image that there is a problem with polution. I would have thought maybe the covered face was a local custom. It is amazing how a caption can influence our views of an image as much as the image itself. The title itself makes me look to the various brooms in the image. I think if it was title "The Hat" my eyes would search the hat. I have learned something viewing this image. Thanks Phil.
Phil Douglis04-Jan-2009 23:27
Thanks, Nancy, for commenting on the symbolism inherent in the stars and stripes that cover her face. The American intervention in Vietnam's civil war had many tragic effects on both countries. Today, however, Vietnam economy thrives because of Western influences. Yet this woman does not share in that boom.
Nancy Good04-Jan-2009 20:43
Yes, indeed she wraps her face in red stripes and white stars - the blue is hinted at, though faded. What also strikes me is the symbolic suffocation of this possiby American scarf. This country has been smothered by many other outside influences, the U.S. included.
Phil Douglis04-Jan-2009 20:38
Well seen, Nancy -- that tattered glove is small, but speaks volumes about life on Hanoi's streets. Your comment is so rich in sensuality -- you feel the roughness of the bristles and the soft caress of the feathers by momentarily borrowing the senses of the subject. You make us see and feel this image in new ways, Nancy. The more I study it, the more I learn. The scarf, for example, hides her face. Yet she ironically wraps that face in white stars and red stripes. Could it be a scarf based on the American flag -- the icon of a country that may once have played a bittersweet role in this woman's life?
Nancy Good04-Jan-2009 02:03
The expressiveness of texture is amazing. She definitely is unidentifiable, but we still are able to feel the protective bristles of straw against our own backs and the gentle caress of the feathers against our more vulnerable fronts. And her hand ... wrapped in that dingy and tattered glove. Wow.
Phil Douglis08-May-2008 03:08
She sure did, Baine.
Guest 08-May-2008 01:22
Certainly has a handle on the sweeping economy
Phil Douglis20-Jan-2008 21:31
Thanks, Barry, for pointing out the role of the handlebar here -- it does indeed bring context to the blend of color and texture and the abstracted face of the vendor.
Barry S Moore20-Jan-2008 10:16
This is a busy picture with lots of elements in it. It all come together when I see the handle bar and realise everything is being carried on the bike.
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