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Naima's place


Naima's place
Photo Information
Copyright: Rinie Hoff (Rinie_Hoff) Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1937 W: 206 N: 2474] (9312)
Genre: Places
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2004-09-21
Categories: Daily Life
Camera: Nikon D70, Nikkor 18-70mm DX, Sigma circular polariser
Exposure: f/5.0, 1/800 seconds
More Photo Info: [view]
Photo Version: Original Version
Travelogue: 11000 kilometers by train.........
Theme(s): Nomads [view contributor(s)]
Date Submitted: 2005-02-14 17:25
Viewed: 1786
Points: 36
[Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note
We went to Khongoryn Els, the sand dunes, by camel.
These sand dunes only cover the Gobi for 3%, and it is an amazing view. I will upload a picture later, they are not that good, because we were there at noon, with very harsh light.
On the way back, we went to the camel driver's family, and were received very hospitably.
I was afraid I would be very shy, because they did not speak English, and we did not speak Mongolian, and then we would be there, guests in their ger, and not able to communicate. But it was a heartfelt experience.
Our guide translated everything unasked, he was really very good for this job.
What also helped, (and I can recommend that to every traveller), is that we also had some pictures of our background, I had some family pictures, and some of Rotterdam, on which I could also point my house. I had actually never realised that people can also be curious after OUR backgrounds.
Naima, the camel driver was 23 years old, had his own herd, and his own ger.
When the boys are 18 years old, they go in the army for one year, and when they come back, they receive a ger from their family, and are supposed to get married, but it's sometimes not easy to find a wife in these remote areas, and Naima was still single.
When asked what he thought was the nicest area to be, he said it was here, in the South Gobi, near Khongoryn Els. He obviously LOVED the desert.
On the picture you can see a satellite dish, and a little windmill. When people have a little bit more money, they often have these kind of tools, windmill or solar panel, and a satellite dish, so we were'nt surprised to find a television in Naima's ger.
Ususally the doors of the gers are open.

I took this picture from the camel's back, I'm sorry the camel's head is a bit centered, but I did not want to loose the dish.
Burnham, avigur_11, alvaraalto, Isabelle, thebecky, premels, sn00zie, cmartos, jhm, Michael_Gan, bertolucci, sarju has marked this note useful
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Discussions
ThreadThread Starter Messages Updated
To Luko: mongolian cuisine.....Rinie_Hoff 2 03-08 17:59
To clodreno: Yourts/gersRinie_Hoff 1 02-21 03:14
To Michael_Gan: apertureRinie_Hoff 1 02-21 02:47
To Proxilva: campingsiteRinie_Hoff 1 02-16 07:14
To Isabelle: camel with a viewRinie_Hoff 1 02-15 06:11
To avigur_11: I'm glad...Rinie_Hoff 2 02-14 18:13
To Burnham: day offRinie_Hoff 2 02-14 17:54
To maciekda: painful experience ;-)Rinie_Hoff 1 02-14 17:53
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Critiques [Translate]

beautifuly composed photo Rinie, i like thoe colors too, the camel's head in the moddle is not a flaw at all - it tells us thet you are riding that poor guy ;) i did some camel riding too, in India - quite painful experience;) very nice photo

Hey Rinie, don't be sorry about the camels, that's camels for you, always wanting to be the center of the universe, believe me I know ;o) Very usefull note and a lovely picture of something I havn't seen before.

Did you have a nice day off, by the way? ;o)

  • Great 
  • sengir Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 389 W: 51 N: 496] (4911)
  • [2005-02-14 17:34]

very good, I really like the perspective, and centered head in this case adds the dynamism and context - we can see you were riding it

Incredible shot, Rinie, almost unreal. There are so many things here that normally canot match together - the camel and the motrbike, the gers and the sattelite dishes, but they do match here for a very nteresting story, together with you very very good note. Amazing light, colors, sharpness and sky. Very very good shot, Rinie, can't wait for more.

View from the camel. Very nice idea and very well done. So there's still more to coem for the traveloque.

Is their anybody home? It looks like the camel has 2 joints in his mouth. Very good picture, even more as you look at the details. The good old camel, the red motorbike and the satellite dish.

  • Great 
  • antti Gold Star Critiquer [C: 248 W: 0 N: 0] (0)
  • [2005-02-14 18:50]

Exellent shot. First it can be thought, that this kind of living is not so high standard but it might be more than that - "recidences" are movable with all new technical stuff. You point of view is also original. Great notes too, Rinie.

can´t resist, Rinie: "a camel with a view"
what a rich experience, unforgettable! i envy you! :D
this pic raises sooooooooo many questions in my mind! was that place windy? cold at night?
colors are sooo nice and it´s sharp and your note is a real delight.
um beijo e obrigada, querida!

The camel head adds movement to an otherwise static picture. The long note is interesting.
The colors are great. The green and blue of their doors together with the red of the bike contrast strongly with the landscape.
Definetely a place I'd like to know.

hi rinie...

for a moment i thought it was a selfportait of your campingsite, but now i look closesly i can see the differences ;DD

i love the compostion with the high horizon and the very few colors...
did you also eat with them? i once saw they eat marmot with allit organs still in it.. YUMMIE!!!

Jorrit

it looks like a beautiful day-a perfect day to click nice and sensitive pictures such as this one. love the note Rinie.. nice job..i love the camels' head in the middle of it all and of course, the bike parked between the tents.. adds a nice touch to it

Hey Rinie, a very interesting POV on this one ;-). As Maciek said, the camels head in the middle is not a flaw and tells us that you ride him. But yet, we dont know much about your dish quality on camels :-)...just joking. Beautifuly composed with a very intersting note too. There are a lot of heterogeneous details (motorbike, satellite antenna,...) that really makes this shot excellent, I like it very much.

a nice scene here rinie.. i especeially like your compo, and also the huge dish on the left.. amazing..this is a place I woud love to travel too.. great that this is centered, otherwise we wouldn't be able to know you shot it from the camel..
Are yhose yourts for you, or do they live in it too?

Hi Rinie. Funny job you did here. We are very aware that this picture was taken while sitting on the back of a camel, but at the same time this could be a view through they eyes of the animal as well. I think you made a good choice to use an aperture of F5 (even though the light would have allowed you to use much smaller apertures) as this resulted in the camel's head being slightly out of focus, just as it would be looking through our own eyes.

Hi Rinie, this is a lovely one. I like the camel's persperctive very much here ;-) and the combination of trad & hi technology. Lovely picture & great note, you're Mongolia series is great!

  • Great 
  • Luko Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2707 W: 503 N: 2854] (13481)
  • [2005-03-08 12:22]
  • [+]

Just remove the bike in the center and that's a scene from StarWars : Luke Skywalker riding some kind of furry but grinning animal and arriving at another alien camp.

From what I've seen, I think it should be difficult to shoot in Mongolia and certainly not to repeat the same clichés. In terms of Ger i beleive the first who gets the shot gets ALL the shots of gers... but there you succeeded with a very different PoV and the inclusion of the camel's head makes it really an original image. That's great.

How was your marmot then : green or red curried, skewed or sauteed with lupins and lupin sauce? I hope you won't mind if I say I might prefer thai cuisine ;-D...

very beautiful. i love how crisp and striking the light is here. nice composition too.

sorry i can't say more... too sleepy...

  • Great 
  • sarju Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1139 W: 52 N: 1278] (5300)
  • [2005-08-21 10:07]

Hi Rinie
Wow .. this is exceptionally good photo, Looks like a photo from camel's POV
well done ... cheers ... sarju
PS: This photo reminded me about this documentary I saw last year, "The story of the weeping camel"

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