GATEWAY TO NOWHERE, a photo from Ar Riyad, East

Photographer's Note

I saw this strange piece of architecture in the middle of desert -- a sort of gate with fort like design. Believe me, it led nowhere! The dirt road after crossing this "gate" just loses itself into the vast desert.
When I saw this and got ready to take a picture, the words of P.B.Shelley's famous poem rang in my mind. I reproduce the poem below:

Ozymandias

I met a traveler from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read,
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed,
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look upon my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

-Percy Bysshe Shelley
1792-1822

rakeshgupta, atus, sayan, aznegrao, edal, ramesh_lalwani, banyanman has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

rakeshgupta (2672) 2006-04-11 22:25

Hello Ram,
Great shot,
The piece of architecture is looking great. First I thought it is made for film shooting but by watching the small gates arches, I feel it is very old and made for specific reason.
Great shot with good colors and contrast. The great poem is giving it a philosophical touch.
Thanks for sharing this great shot.
- Rakesh

atus (15795) 2006-04-12 5:05

Hello Ram,
very interesting shot here. The architecture looks really great and You composed the shot very well with the road path in the middle of them.Thanks and best regards.
Attila

gilou530 (34) 2006-04-13 17:12

hello
a very good picture with a landscape beautiful, the framind of this two tower is well make
gilbert

sayan (2617) 2006-04-14 3:20

great compostion, perfect colour and nice contrast. The particular choice of frame is very nice.
regards

edal (6776) 2006-04-25 13:44

Hi, Ram!
Your photo is very good in color and focus - excellent from photographic point of view. But I think that this gate is not ancient and is an unfinished building site of an attraction or movie shooting site. What makes me think like this is the bright color and the sharp edges of the stones which are not aged by centuries.

If you want to see genuine old buildings, you have to visit Turkey;)
Tesekkurler!
Anton

ramesh_lalwani (3211) 2006-04-26 3:24

Hi Ram
Very interesting piece of architecture of courseyour note.
About photo,stones in gateway give very different colors and look good against sandy background.TFS
ramesh

BigCrompy (268) 2006-05-16 20:30

What an interesting work! I appreciate it's a scan of an old photo, so would suggest some sharpening of the bricks in the wall (regrettably this is beyond my skills!) but as a matter of interest it's fabulous!

I presume in ancient times (if indeed the wall is that old) then surely the road led somewhere across the desert...but a fascinating picture nonetheless! Well done!

dbp (2) 2006-05-26 1:24

Nice pics.
Thanks to you and TE I can share pics with countries I'll never be there.
From next week I'll put some pics from Israel.
keep tracking.
David

banyanman (7772) 2006-05-26 10:45

I wonder if this was part of a movie set as Anton suggests? Certainly very unusual and almost surreal architecture. I think if you had taken this from as close to ground level as possible (and perhaps walking just a little closer to the wall) you could have had the two towers protruding above the top of the hill - I think that would have made them stand out more. Cheers . . . David