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My World: The Desert and its people..

fahim mohammed

Well-known member
“I knew that I had made my last journey in the Empty Quarter and that a phase in my life was ended. Here in the desert I found all that I asked; I knew that I should never find it again. But it was not only this personal sorrow that distressed me. I realized that the Bedouin with whom I had lived and traveled, and in whose company I had found contentment, were doomed. Some people maintain that they will be better off when they have exchanged the hardship and poverty of the desert for the security of a materialistic world. This I do not believe. I shall always remember how often I was humbled by those illiterate herdsmen who possessed, in so much greater measure than I, generosity and courage, endurance, patience and lighthearted gallantry. Among no other people have I ever felt the same sense of personal inferiority.” Wilfred Thesiger; The Arabian Sands.



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Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
“I knew that I had made my last journey in the Empty Quarter and that a phase in my life was ended. Here in the desert I found all that I asked; I knew that I should never find it again. But it was not only this personal sorrow that distressed me. I realized that the Bedouin with whom I had lived and traveled, and in whose company I had found contentment, were doomed. Some people maintain that they will be better off when they have exchanged the hardship and poverty of the desert for the security of a materialistic world. This I do not believe. I shall always remember how often I was humbled by those illiterate herdsmen who possessed, in so much greater measure than I, generosity and courage, endurance, patience and lighthearted gallantry. Among no other people have I ever felt the same sense of personal inferiority.” Wilfred Thesiger; The Arabian Sands.

Fahim,

It's a pleasure to read Theiger's quotation! You are of course, well-read, but this is really a sensitive and rich description of the lifestyle and values or ordinary folk who have loyalty, hospitality, respect and dignity as mainstays for their lives.

Asher
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Fahim,

Of course I am going to comment on your photograph. We ought to send you away more often! This is so exceptional simple yet important. The wind sculpted dunes dominate the landscape and are beautiful but unforgiving. The single figure making his way to the horizon shows how man can continue his journey even with all the harsh challenges thrown in his path.



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I do hope there is more!

Did you ever get your camera ruined by sand? I would think that a cell phoned, hermetically sealed against water would be perfect for this environment!

One fellow I knew would wash his camera in the shower after a day at the beach, but he used an Olympus!

Asher
 

fahim mohammed

Well-known member
Thanks Asher. It was the Fuji X-PRO2.

I have ruined a few cameras. MY D200 melted in the Empty Quarter. Sand ruined my D80 sensor. Was not worth the cost of a replacing it.
I have been unable to ever take any sort of passable photo with an iPhone. Strange.

That ' man ' btw, is Ayesha!

I don't know if you have read the ' Arabian Sands ". It is a pretty good read.

Regards.
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Thanks Asher. It was the Fuji X-PRO2.

I have ruined a few cameras. MY D200 melted in the Empty Quarter. Sand ruined my D80 sensor. Was not worth the cost of a replacing it.
I have been unable to ever take any sort of passable photo with an iPhone. Strange.

That ' man ' btw, is Ayesha!

I don't know if you have read the ' Arabian Sands ". It is a pretty good read.

Regards.


Of cvourse, she is both a wo-man and a hu-man and as a climber she is, well, super-man!


I think the Olympus is just perfect for the dunes. Just done even think of changing the lens!

Asher
 

fahim mohammed

Well-known member
Steven, Roshni...thank you for your comments.

Roshni, if I am permitted, here is a suggestion for you.

Forget about which camera; it does not matter. For what it is worth, choose your subject, landscape, photojournalistic, documentary, portrait etc. Show the viewers, what you saw, felt, what you want them to see and feel.

Of course, certain subjects demand technical excellence. But trust me on this one..concentrate on the emotional aspect, the subject, the other issues are secondary ( necessary even..but a long way down).

Just my opinion.

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p.s. the camera( in the desert capture and the one above ) was a fuji xpro2; on aperture priority, auto iso, RAF.
 

fahim mohammed

Well-known member
" The desert shatters the soul's arrogance and leaves body and soul crying out in thirst and hunger. In the desert we trust God or die. "

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fahim mohammed

Well-known member
“For this was the real desert where differences of race and colour, of wealth and social standing, are almost meaningless; where coverings of pretence are stripped away and basic truths emerge.”

From " Arabian Sands "

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“I pondered on this desert hospitality and, compared it with our own. I remembered other encampments where I had slept, small tents on which I had happened in the desert and where I had spent the night.

Men in rags and hungry-looking children had greeted me, and bade me welcome with the sonorous phrases of the desert...

... and had answered that I was a hundred times welcome. Their lavish hospitality had always made me uncomfortable, for I had known that as a result of it they would go hungry for days. Yet when I left them they had almost convinced me that I had done them a kindness by staying with them”

From " Arabian Sands "
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Fahim,

I have seen that self sacrifice to honor the guest. A host would disguise the family's thin slice of meat by laying it over gravy soaked bread, while giving a generously thick portion to their guests.

I think poor people do this. Those in the desert with rags know hunger and understand the ravages of nature and so are super hospitable to the stranger.

In cities, with packed full supermarkets and 40 brands of butter to choose from, we lack that cold wind at night and the look of hunger in children that trust us.

Asher
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
This picture, Fahim, gives us even more pause than the daylight ones. At dusk, one better have a place to be safe. This becomes the edge of the end of the world!



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I would'nt feel safe even with a helicopter standing by to pull me out!

Asher
 
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