Dubai, Fossil Rock

Fossil Rock, Dubai

'What would the world be, once bereft

Of wild and wilderness? Let them be left,

O Let them be left, wildness and wet;

Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet'.....Gerard Manley Hopkins

Fossil Rock, Dubai

Camel Walking

Finished up my business in Dubai on Sunday night. A local friend had a plan take me to the red desert on Monday - four wheeling over the sand to Fossil Rock. As we were driving a group of camels suddenly appeared simply walking down to road.

Our guide told us they are let out in the morning, walk around most of the day, and then return to their farm late in the day for water. I would estimate about 15-20 camels just WALKED ON BY....what an added surprise...

Grabbed a few images of the camels and headed out to the rock. Of course we got stuck on the edge of a dune for about 20 minutes but eventually the guide figured it out and off we went to Fossil.....Stay tuned for images of the rock....

 

All in all quite a fun experience. Going back out today to photograph the city of Dubai...

Mesquite Dunes

Mequite Dunes, Stovepipe Wells, Death Valley 

'The human spirit needs places where nature has not been arranged my the hand of man'......Author Unknown

Off to Iceland today....very excited about going back.... 
Image Management:

Canon 5DMKII
24-105M Lens (70MM)
Photoshop CS5
Lightroom 3

Sand Dunes - Death Valley

 

 What I enjoy most about photography is the camera's ability to define in a much different way from the eye - always a mystery and later a surprise. Not any particular object, but the relationships of objects; or the isolation of an object that catches my fancy. We se what we believe is there. I need to relax my eyes and mostly my emotions for each image and make my best effort to record it as I see it. This can become extremely emotional and very very personal - as no one else has my vision and no other image will look like mine.

Sand Dunes are the perfect muse for self expression - they can be sensual, exotic, dark, rhythmical, elegant and melodramatic to name a few. Basically the dunes offer a fabulous background with which to express oneself, but you must take your time and think carefully about what it is you are looking for. Once found it becomes necessary to explore this decision from all sides before moving forward. 

This was my third visit to the Mesquite Dunes near Stovepipe Wells and the first time I walked away with images that felt correct in terms of what I was in my thoughts at the moment of capture. 

Death Valley Continued

Hello from Death Valley...that's me above shooting sunrise at Zabriske Point...

I have been shooting a good deal over the past few days hence not being able to post anything. This is essentially a catch up blog today with several images from the past few days.

Death Valley has been fabulous so far - weather is mostly good except for the 35 mile per hour wind that appeared today. Tomorrow we go to Racetrack Playa in the afternoon - we start the day at the Sand Dunes near Stovepipe Wells.

I am with a great group of photographers at this workshop - all alumni from previous John Paul Caponigro workshops. This is my first one with JP in the field shooting -  we shoot sunrise and sunset every day at various locations with a review of work after a late breakfast...

Here are a few images from the trip...

This is Zabriske Point...

Another Zabriske Point....

Sand Dunes near Stovepipe Wells

Badwater Basin

More Sand Dunes...

Happy Weekend Everyone...