The King Photo | TrekEarth

Photographer’s Note

The King
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¿Why do not miss the Tatacoa Desert?

The Tatacoa Desert is a mystical place, full of a stoic beauty, where erosion, patiently, has created vast labyrinth of land, huge craters similar to those of a lunar landscape, as well as huge chasms crowned with hundreds of peaks land and plateaus where the soil changes color depending on the time: in the day dominated by red and gray, the first appears in towers and hills and watermarks in the second campea prices.

At sunset the desert becomes an intense orange, as if the whole place was in flames.

The Tatacoa is not really a desert, but a tropical dry forest. His name is the same as in this area give the department the rattlesnakes. The place is hot day and cool at night.

In this magical place reign cacti, some of which reach four five meters, and produce an edible berry red, as well as cotton Mt.

Silence and the current peace contrasted with his violent past, if you listen carefully you can still hear the cries of war the exploits of the natives: Doches, Totoyoes and Pijaos against the Spaniards.

Precisely fierce resistance native and inclement half, led the conquistadors to call the place "The Valley of Sorrows."

At first glance the desert devoid of wildlife, but to go into it you can see the presence of rattlesnakes, arachnids (spiders and scorpions), eagles, alligators and weasels.

The place is now arid, was millions of years ago a lush jungle, home of giant Megatherium, Gliptodontes, Stirtonia Tatacoensis that roam these lands during the Pleistocene.

They also have discovered the remains of ammonites (380 million years ago), Toxodon, Coprolites, Deinoterios, Notoungulata, Astropotherildae and Interatherildae (20 million years ago), beings who lived during the Cretaceous, Triassic and Jurassic.

In addition have been found fossils of mollusks, turtles, rodents, armadillos and giant sloths (some the size of an elephant and more than 60,000 years old), these findings have led scientists to raise that to house and maintain such diversity fauna of the time and Tertiary and Pleistocene, Tatacoa originally due to have bountiful flora, diversified strata tree species and plants.

Many of these fossils can be seen in the full-Archaeological Museum that runs adjacent to the park Villavieja

shevchenko, npecanhuk, Waylim, dareco, gracious, siamesa, zmey, jlbrthnn, jusninasirun, avene, danos, parbo has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

Waylim (10741) 2008-09-17 21:01

The detail and texture of the earth is amazingly good, great details and sharpness, the clarity is also good, the sun light is strong here but you managed well not over exposing the bright area. Color is also as good. Informative note. Thanks for taking your time and great effort. Well done and excellent works.
Way

shevchenko (9862) 2008-09-18 0:33

Hello John,
Strong contrast between dry land and sunny blue sky, I wonder how difficult archeologist excavate at the bad condition environment, distinct image and detail to show the rough feature of the dry land, good exposure, good shoot.
Ally

dareco (17104) 2008-09-18 1:09

I enjoy reading the history that goes along with this place. I would love to see it at sunset! Another excellent picture. Very good detail. TFS

gracious (20017) 2008-09-18 3:09

Hello John,
Thank you for sharing this amazing desert with those unbelieveable pattern and textures of the land!
the exposure and focus is spot on with top-notch sharpbess, awesome colour and superb details
thanks once again for the useful notes as well
take care and my warmest regards from a friend
Tony

siamesa (12712) 2008-09-18 4:53

Olá John,
Fantástica textura da areia desse deserto. Uma paisagem erma e linda com um mistode vegetação e areias desertas. Linda foto.
Abraços
Maria

jlbrthnn (37657) 2008-09-18 6:37

Buenos días John,
Observo tus imágenes de paisaje con un inmenso interés. El espectáculo ofrecido es tanto diferente de este yo ve en Francia. Una vez aún tu excelente imagen y tu nota son un excelente trabajo didáctico sobre tu país. Bravo.
Pasa un buen día
Cordialmente
Joël

zmey (7244) 2008-09-18 6:39

hola john

i see: you discovered (for us) another desert we must see :)) i actually was not aware, there was one in colombia. this one seems to offer an array of interesting textures and colors. i have to note though that the light choice is not the best: the harsh mid-day sun renders the scene very 'flat' resulting in an interesting visual 'effect': the sky seems closer to the viewer than the rock and the plant in the foreground.

regards,
kristaps

josepmarin (33785) 2008-09-18 9:11

Hola John,
este paisaje desértico con los tonos claros y losn cactus tiene un grafismo muy fuerte, y la luz ayuda a dibujar su relieve. Me gusta el contraste que tiene con el cielo y las nubes, con la línea del horizonte muy bien marcada.
El conjunto es fotogénico y atrae la mirada con fuerza, y la realización de la toma es buena.
Bonita composición, amigo.
Un abrazo,
Josep

jusninasirun (10179) 2008-09-18 9:27

Hello John. Excellent image registered here to demonstrate how nature patiently works its way into this amazing texture. You have captured it in stunning details and well balanced perspective. Bright day and beautiful sky add interest to the shot. Well done and TFS. Jusni

avene (10942) 2008-09-18 9:49

hello John,
I don't see any major problem with the light here, I actually think that the harsh light works quite well to bring out the textures and emphasise the desert ambience. I like this photo a lot, especially how the patters of the cloud formations seem to mirror the patterns on the ground, although I'd probably try and avoid placing the horizon line directly in the center of the photo. the cactus is a nice accent, but there seems to be a slight halo around it. but those are minor point, the photo is very nice.

best,
Kristine

danos (32228) 2008-09-18 12:25

Hola John,
very impressive the presentation of the Tatacoa Desert with the King to stand in good position in the frame.Informative your note with the erosion to make the environment so difficult for life.Excellent the management of the colors and the light.Well done.

Regards,Danos

MarianneS (14262) 2008-09-18 13:29

Hola John,
Otra bonita composición. Los colores son muy interesantes y agradables.
Los diseños que se puede apreciar sobre el suelo dan una impresión de gran grafismo.
Un abrazo,
Marianne

BWJ (1771) 2008-09-18 18:08

Hello John,
A very well composed photo with great color and clarity. There is an excellent sense of depth and distance as well. Your note is superb! I enjoyed it very much. Nature is amazing.
Warm wishes,
Betty

Anonimo76 (49) 2008-09-19 5:48

hola amigo, muy buena foto... pero le falta fuerza...

parbo (10968) 2008-09-20 10:12

Hola John,

This reddish tones are very attractive since the thumbnail of your photo and I couldn't passed. Splendid colors and textures created by nature. Its creating fantastic view under cloudy sky. Congratulations.

Cordialmente,

Ertugrul

cherryripe (18869) 2008-09-22 3:42

Hi John
Lovely contrast between the rich, red earth against the heavy clouds. Excellent sharpness of the foreground too.
Regards
Nikki

jmdias (19087) 2008-10-03 17:30

john

these lines in the ground on foreground are very nice, the sillouet of that cactus in the top is another strong point inside this compo, showing another marvelous landscape

hugs

jorge

Photo Information

Copyright: John Ospina (ElAprendiz) (7370)
Genre: Places
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2008-09-14
Categories: Nature
Camera: Sony Cybershot DSC-P73, Sony Lens/ Optical 3 x, f=6-18mm 1:2.8-5, Sony Memory Stick Pr
Exposure: f/9.0, 1/250 seconds
More Photo Info: view
Photo Version: Original Version
Date Submitted: 2008-09-17 20:17