Lady in Waiting Photo

Photographer’s Note

Uluru (or Ayers Rock) is one of the most iconic shots of Australia. It is a great mass of red sandstone that rises out of the desert in the heart of the Australian continent.It is also a place of special spiritual significance for the Aboriginal people ,who live around it. We drove out into the National Park to see the rock at sunset (people said that it was the thing to do) but when we arrived we found that we were not alone. This lady has set out her stall before us. She works for a tour company,who bring tourists out to see the sunset and they provide them with a glass of wine etc as they watch. At this moment she did look a bit strange out in the desert, all alone, with her bar. Incidentally, I tend to recoil when I am presented with an iconic shot; the sort that everyone has taken hundreds of times before me.I tend to try to find a slightly different way to show it, and this lady provided e with this here

ifege, siolaw, adores, LamCam, phwall, papagolf21, PixelTerror, patdeph, riclopes, trekks has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

papagolf21 (57015) 2008-11-03 11:29

Bonsoir, mon ami Kevin,
Je ne connais pas la température qui règne sur les lieux, mais je suis persuadé que ce stand installé rapidement pour rafraîchir les touristes est le bienvenu !
Il faut reconnaître que cette masse rocheuse est intrigante, l'on dirait un animal préhistorique qui a été emmuré depuis la nuit des temps.
Très bonne composition avec une note instructive.
Amitiés.
Philippe

phwall (5817) 2008-11-03 12:07

Hi Kevin,
Nothing wrong with the odd icon shot, especially if you have a different slant on it. Times sure have changed since the first time I was there, 1968, forget the drinks lady, and the tour buses, there was nothing there, not a building or even a shack. All there was was a dirt track around the base of the rock and a few humpies that the local aboriginals lived in.
Thanks for the memories.
Cheers
Peter

LamCam (3603) 2008-11-03 14:38

Hello Kevin,
The stall certainly adds a visual commentary to this view of fenced and tamed Nature. The Rock itself is still pretty impressive. The partridge strutting around the foreground is living dangerously I think!
Best wishes...Maggie

adores (15841) 2008-11-03 18:00

Hi Kevin!
You even included thebird on the right. Was it a partridge? Good idea to show this famous place in a very different way, in this case with the lady and the drinks. I believe you saw a wonderful sunset because the light was great already. Nice work!

siolaw (25890) 2008-11-03 21:01

Hi Kevin!
Some more interaction with the lady would have been welcomed, but she, nevertheless, adds an interesting element to the famous view! It was a good idea to include her in the shot. Nicely rendered Uluru texture and colors... i wonder why the white man always like to put barbed wires everywhere... I think many have them in the mind!!!
Greetings from Saphan Khwai!
Laurent

snunney (35840) 2008-11-04 1:01

Hello Kevin,
An out of the ordinary capture of this Australian icon with this lady waiting for customers, the bird seems quite interested ;-) Thanks for sharing.

Stepan (27175) 2008-11-04 23:17

A little unreal...
What I appreciate the most ?
A kind of inverted symmetry between the Rock and the Table. Funny.
A strange scene, well seen.
Stéphane

ifege (2073) 2008-11-05 1:20

A touch of humour in this one Kevin.
Yes - you have to see the changing colours Uluru at sunset (one of the world's great photo opportunities) but this is a new aspect since the last time I was there - what an insult to the place but it does make a great shot.
Regards
Ian

RGatward (19751) 2008-11-06 6:47

Very bizzare view of Ayers rock, reminds me of a scene from Bunuel's 'The Discrete Charm of the Bourgoisie', or that famous painting of teh waiter on the beach. And an entry for my rather rarely filled theme.

PixelTerror (87195) 2008-11-07 1:38

Hi Kevin,
That's the Australian way of presenting landmarks, personnally I wouldn't mind some Barossa valley delicacies while enjoying the sunset spectacle at Uluru, but when I visited the lady was not there and I had to compete with tour busses and masses to see something, good news are the place is large. Nice image in two plans, I wish you had placed the lady more on either side but not so obstruating the view in the center.
Have a nice day JY

patdeph (18606) 2008-11-07 4:15

hello Kevin
it's something we can see everywhere,some stalls for the groups!I remember that in Thailand,in a place very diificult to reach,we had to clim a very sharp mountain,and at the top,there was a table like that with "chamagne" for the group!I would prefer to see the place completly wild,,without nothing,but...Anyway,for the picture,the white table make a nice contrast with the red and superb landscape!Very nice!
Regards
Pascale

Senk (2033) 2008-11-08 18:18

Hi Lung

beautiful light

good job

Seng

kensimage (8543) 2008-11-08 21:30

That lady is definitely the element you need to give this shot some character. It shows that even a rock, a plain old rock, can be turned into something to make money off of. It turns that rather magnificent rock into something banal.

I'm glad you recoil from iconic shots. There are too many on TE as it is. Such recoiling is what gives me difficulty doing landscape photography. ALL the good shots are iconic. Regards, Ken.

baba_flies (8191) 2008-11-09 6:57

Hello Kevin! Now hello :))) I have never been served with a glass of wine so far in the Australian outback but I was rather trying to recover from the heat out here, finding a little shade somewhere. This is certainly a different way to "serve" us with some Ayers Rock pictures, great idea and beyond what one might expect. This is fun, full of something different, and this is not easy to find. Continue :))) Barbara.

riclopes (33143) 2008-11-10 0:48

Congratulations for this diferent scene of this famous place, Kevin. Something I have never seen before and you are right - it is a strange thing to see in the middle of the desert. I think the centrality works well and there's a nice balance of horizontal stripes in the composition. And a pigeon at the corner as a bonus ;-)
regards,
ricardo

trekks (14336) 2008-11-12 2:59

hi Kevin

I would be very impressed to stand here and this lady is surely very lucky to be at the fence but she makes a good strking pose here to the color of the rock and environment with the white table cloth and neat rows of drinks.

She is a strong competitor to the rock for attention!

We may not remember other Australian landscapes but Ayers is always the exception.

tfs, bill

Photo Information

Copyright: kevin o'sheehan (kevinos) (6927)
Genre: Places
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2008-09-25
Categories: Daily Life, Nature
Camera: Canon digital EOS 40D
Exposure: f/14.0, 1/400 seconds
More Photo Info: view
Photo Version: Original Version
Theme(s): Australia - Red Centre, Original view of a famous landmark [view contributor(s)]
Date Submitted: 2008-11-03 7:33