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Orange Sands -- Violet Sky, Wadi Rum, Jordan

Posted by
dj.tigersprout (New York City, United States) on 18 July 2008 in Landscape & Rural and Portfolio.

On my first and sadly only evening in Wadi Rum i was taken to watch the sunset at the top of an amazing and isolated red sand dune. It was heaven... and i couldn't have wanted for anything more! Even though my guide's English was rough at best, we managed to communicate quite well resorting to jokes, charades and simple finger pointing to get our thoughts across. The landscape was exotic and otherworldly and the different stages of light, pre and post sunset, were simply stunning! Had i had more time, i could have taken a million shots!

Eventually, the magnificently engorged sun, vibrantly ochre behind layers of atmospheric dust, finally sank below the distant and rocky horizon. For a split second nothing changed, the golden yellow tones of the air held their stay, the remaining light of the day still warm and brilliant. Seconds later, the lower part of the sky turned a startling hue of magnificent violet, casting long beautifully blue-ish shadows from the nearest rock faces upon the sand.
Then the light in the air seemed to dim dramatically... the violet horizon grew deeper in hue moving towards a faint purple where there were particles of dust in the lower atmosphere. I was almost too mesmerized to take photos! I hadn't seen a light display of this kind... and certainly not in such an expansive terrain!

The light continued to slowly slip away, and the once ruby red glow of the sand gradually became other hues: a vibrant mustard orange, then a brownish-orange, and then a brownish-grey as the sky darkened enough for the first stars to come out overhead. No longer able to take photos, I began flipping through my shots on the viewfinder, hoping i would have enough to work with -- pictures that would strongly reinforce my memories and visually retell my desert experience.

Much much later that night, after a savory Syrian dinner and a good deal of thought provoking conversation, i finally retired to my Bedouin guest hut. With a full moon overhead, a gentle breeze and the entire camp fast asleep, i dreamt of the amazing places i had been and the beautiful things i had seen. For a split second upon waking, i realized that there had been a unique and magically repetitious color scheme to my marvelous slumber: I had dreamt in vivid hues of violet & orange!

Canon EOS REBEL XT 1/50 second F/5.6 ISO 400 55 mm

all work protected by Creative Commons

Canon EOS REBEL XT
1/50 second
F/5.6
ISO 400
55 mm

red-sand
desert-camp
southern-jordan
bedouin
wadi-rum