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Whirling Dervishes
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| [Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note |
This is a picture of a group of "Whirling Dervishes" near Goreme performing a Sema. The picture is a little dark, because the ceremony takes place in a dark, completely quiet place so that the dervishes can concentrate during thir meditation. I used some gamma to see them better and would like to see the image more defined, but don't get there with my limited ACDSee skills. Any workshops (and of course, comments) are welcome.
The Mevlevi or Whirling Dervishes are one of the sects of Sufis, who were associated to poverty and self-denial. The dance the dervishes perform is intended to bring the dervishes into "direct, ecstatic communion with Allah". They wear long circular skirts to whirl around the place in a state of ecstatic meditation. As a matter of fact, they seem transported to another world.
"The Sema represents a mystical journey of man's spiritual ascent through mind and love to "Perfect." Turning towards the truth, the follower grows through love, deserts his ego, finds the truth and arrives to the "Perfect." He then returns from this spiritual journey as a man who has reached maturity and a greater perfection, so as to love and to be of service to the whole of creation." (Source: Wikipedia)
"The whirling is done on the spot in an anticlockwise direction, with the right arm held high, palm upwards, and the left arm held low, palm downwards. People who feel discomfort from whirling anti-clockwise can change to clockwise. The body of the whirler is meant to be soft with eyes open, but unfocused so that images become blurred and flowing. A 15 minute period of slow rotation is followed by a gradual build up of speed over the next 30 minutes. Then the whirling takes over." (Source: Wikipedia) |
peter1892, atilgone, Aido has marked this note useful
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- mdo
![Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 135 W: 82 N: 50]](http://i1.trekearth.com/misc/g-g-g.gif)
(1119) - [2006-01-17 10:05]
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very congested composition.Thanks for sharing.
Good image - it's a little bit cluttered with the railing & seats in the foreground, but we can see what's going on quite clearly. Good note too, lots of information in it.
Hi Yvonne,
Considering the conditions, the composition is very nice and with ok atmosphere. May be a B&W option should work better. The place seems to be wonderful, though the wooden handrail in foreground is a bit disturbing. Also a bigger size would be nice...I'm not very good in postprocessing, so I'm sorry I won't give you a ws.
If you want, you can check my gallery - I posted a recent series of shots of this unbelievable beauty ceremony, in Istambul.
Very good note!
Well done and thanks for sharing,
Best regards,
Ricardo
Hi Yvonne,
I would love to sit and watch Whirling Dervishes, there is something so very serene about it. I posted a workshop as per your request, hope you like it!
Adrian
![Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 78 W: 27 N: 59]](http://i1.trekearth.com/misc/g-s-g.gif){kind=small}