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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery One: Travel Abstractions -- Unlimited Thought > Spring Thaw, Lake Tahoe, California, 2008
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17-MAY-2008

Spring Thaw, Lake Tahoe, California, 2008

The roads that surround 6,000-foot high Lake Tahoe are wet with melting snow in mid-May. I move in with a 28mm wideangle lens on a puddle, and shoot towards the morning sun to abstract its surface with backlight. The wet street reflects the light back towards us. The light defines the texture of the wet street, creating a surface that is vividly tactile. By converting the color image to black and white, I make the image’s abstract qualities become even more intense.

Sigma DP1
1/640s f/11.0 at 16.6mm iso100 hide exif
Full EXIF Info
Date/Time17-May-2008 09:20:38
MakeSigma
ModelSIGMA DP1
Flash UsedNo
Focal Length16.6 mm
Exposure Time1/640 sec
Aperturef/11
ISO Equivalent100
Exposure Bias
White Balance
Metering Modemulti spot (3)
JPEG Quality
Exposure Programprogram (2)
Focus Distance

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Phil Douglis09-Feb-2009 18:09
Thanks, Kathy, for seeing both the Yin and the Yang in this image. You make me look at it in a new way.
Kathy Khuner09-Feb-2009 02:30
What draws my attention is the line where the black road and the white snow meet on the diagonal from lower right towards the upper left. Depending how you look at it, it is either black on white or white on black, which gives the photo energy and tension.
Phil Douglis28-Jan-2009 20:29
Thanks for adding to the dialog here, Shawn. It is indeed ironic that we can feel both heat and cold emanating from the same image. Our tactile response is activated as well by both rough and smooth surfaces. In addition, we have a strong contrast in tonality here, pitting white against black and even white within black. So yes -- we must continually adjust our response to multiple parts of the same image. That is what drew me to this subject and motivated me to convert it to a black and white image.
Guest 28-Jan-2009 18:08
I feel the warmth of the sun on the road but also the coldness of the snow and the tactile road as well as the tactile grass that protrudes from the bleak snow on the side. Almost ironic in a sense to think I can adjust my own feelings to multiple parts of the same image.
Phil Douglis03-Jan-2009 17:27
Thanks, Nancy, for noting the symbolic role of the snow as a barrier here -- it is slowly melting away, just as once seemingly impenetrable barriers in our own lives have gradually receded and opened new avenues of exploration to us.
Nancy Good02-Jan-2009 21:47
Having been on these roads, I can appreciate how you've singled out this small stretch and the BW conversion. It increases it's impact. Here, the snow also takes on the appearance of a barrier at the road's edge, but we also sense the impermanence of this barrier - giving us insight into the possible/probably impermanency of the other "barriers" in our lives.
Phil Douglis18-Oct-2008 23:53
You are welcome, Yves. For me it's not work. It's a passion.
Yves Rubin18-Oct-2008 22:39
Superb work Phil!
Phil Douglis27-May-2008 19:03
Light is a form of energy, Tim -- I wanted the image to radiate that energy. The play of light revealing texture helps do that, and so does the rocket like shape given to it by my vantage point and my wideangle lens. I gradually discovered all of this while working the image. (I had plenty of time to do so, since I was waiting for you to climb down that mountain and back up again.)
Tim May27-May-2008 17:46
The heat from the summer sun will ultimately melt the snows of winter. Here you show the power of light.
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