The Ants Photo | TrekEarth

Photographer’s Note

Pukulpa Pitjama Anaguku Ngurakutu !

The Ants are not natives of the Australian outback but can be observed there in good conditions.

The Ants deploy their activity in the early morning before the sun goes up and start their climbing procession of Uluru. It is supposed once up there they dedicate their prays to the rising sun god (though I'm not sure they have a special day like Inti Raymi in Bolivia to venerate Tata Inti !) or possibly do some kind of sacrifice to the Rainbow Serpent...

Once the sunrise is complete, the Ants come down and gather in places called hotels or lodges to celebrate their experiences around a table, then they reduce their activity as the sun strikes hard on the outback, they often find shelters in pubs or souvenir shops.

As the temperature declines the Ants gather again around Uluru to attend another sun performance, the Sunset. This being done they celebrate until late with huge (and possibly unreasonable) amounts of liquids called XXXX or VB.

(c) PixelTerror Aussie Studies, Uluru, 1994.

namaste_oti, MoosicMan, Paolo, rbcy1974, naxius, Luan, nilolabrador, thebecky, summersun, ChrisJ, PlamenAD, Gix, Fixfocus, bibiweb, nwoehnl, jrj, singuanti, apache, weswang, chinchini, capthaddock, laluna, maloutim has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

bantonbuju (48358) 2005-05-17 3:37

salut yean-yves,
what a lovely composition with the snake-like stream of tourists climbind the hill; looks like the rain has been missing for quite a some time;
have a nice day, jerzy

dolin (15647) 2005-05-17 3:37

Hello Jean-Yves.
Jolie prise avec cette alignée de personne qui grimpe comme une horde de fourmis en plein travail.
Bon choix pour la prise verticale et belle lumière qui nous vient depuis la gauche.
Belle compo.
Fred

nilolabrador (1469) 2005-05-17 3:53

Excellente photo, excellent (et très approprié) titre
et excellente note. Une photo qui n'a pas besoin de gigapixel
pour ètre très belle.

namaste_oti (705) 2005-05-17 3:54

Bonjour Jean-Yves,
Ma première réaction en voyant ta photo, c'est de faire un parallele avec l'arête des cosmiques au Mont-Blanc. Des fourmis aussi là-bas, mais habillés plus chaudement, et avec une lampe frontale sur la tête ;0)
Olivier.

MoosicMan (1231) 2005-05-17 4:01

Bonjour, Jean-Yves.
I believe you have finally been out in the sun too long! Great note! I enjoyed it immensely. I really like this shot, too. I like the backlighting on the people, and the whole idea of the procession of tourists. Ants, for all love!
My best wishes,
Matt

Paolo (40655) 2005-05-17 4:10

Funny note & image Jean!!!
fortunally when i went in Australia we choos to no visit the Uluru...otherwise we should be Ants...
thanks, ciao

rbcy1974 (20742) 2005-05-17 4:24

Bonjour Jean Yves,
Une composition tres interesant pour accompagnier une note tres humoristic.
A+
Daniel

kclai (2267) 2005-05-17 4:25

Bonjour Jean
Wonderful perspective shot that produces that "ant-like" trail up the hill.
Actually, I could get to the understanding of your notes about the "Ants". Are you addressing these people as "Ants" and they are somesort of a religious group. Hope you could give me the whole idea of the group.
Thanks in advance.
Eric Lai

YOU GOT ME HERE..........AHHHHHHHHHHH.

jmdaoudal (82) 2005-05-17 4:41

J'aime bien la note et le paralèle, un très bon moment de lecture avec cette bonne photo à l'appui. Un page de zoologie, et un regard décalé qui fait sourire et détend.
L'illustration du texte dans un format propice et un POV excellent nous fait vivre la vie des fourmis de l'interieur..
Je viens de passer un bon moment de TE :))
merci
jean Michel

naxius (16679) 2005-05-17 4:45

Sup[erbe Jean-Yves,
Ta note est tres bonne, beaucoup d'humour ici et le parallele est tres bien trouve et ecrit.
Belle photo, avec une excellent lumiere rasante du matin et une parfait perspective avec ce chemin et ces fourmis ;o
Merci!
Alex

Zepi (22848) 2005-05-17 5:27

Hello Jean-Yves,
Très beau paysage.
J'aime bien cette colonne de gens qui serpente le long de la montagne !
Beau travail
Amicalement
Sébastien

Luan (15935) 2005-05-17 5:40

Un sacré dénivelé dis moi, tu as aussi gravi cette pente ;o), les gens semblent peiner...hihi je les comprends. Je suis essoufler rien qu'a regarder ton image, de plus le titre est parfaitement choisi, ils se deplacent vraiment en file indienne comme les vrais ;o).
Je reste en bas avec toi si ca ne te gene pas...
Luan

summersun (4964) 2005-05-17 7:06

je croyais que c'était une montagne sacrée pour les aborigenes et qu'il ne fallait pas monter dessus ! ces petites fourmis n'ont décidement aucun respect...
j'aime bien ce point de vue qui nous montre cette procession d'insectes austaliens importés, et la note est tres informative quant aux moeurs de ces fourmis.
Vanessa

PlamenAD (406) 2005-05-17 8:43

Hi Jean Ives,
Nice photo and nice story. I enjoyed them a lot. Good perspective, well managed DOF and all this regardless the unfavourable light conditions.
Cheers!
Plamen

mlopes (492) 2005-05-17 9:39

Bonjour Jean-Yves, UAU what a note ;) they really look like ants! This looks like a ant-house magnified... all the ants climbing their shelter.

Nice POV, the diagonal patch really fulfill the frame.

Amicalement,
Mário

Gix (3559) 2005-05-17 11:53

Bonjour Jean,
...the fantasy at the power!
Thanks for the very funny note, not too distant from the realty...
Nice compo, with intelligent pov... truly like ants, very good eye catch!
ciao, Giorgio

Fixfocus (9377) 2005-05-17 12:43

Great compo with the row of ants climbing up the mountain,-the vertical frame fits it perfect.I also like the light mood that you captured here,-and yes a great note!

MvS (4163) 2005-05-17 15:18

Thanks for the story of the ants and their ant-hill.
Beautiful light and good composition.
Beleive it or not, but when I anted this hill once many years ago it was raining, so we had to wait a few hours before we could climb due to the risk of slipping down the slope!! I thought the only water here had to be brought in by the tourists.
Thanks,
Magnus

bibiweb (8) 2005-05-17 16:02

Salut Jean-Yves!
La note est hilarante... et comme Olivier je trouve que cette procession n'est pas sans rappeler certaines voies du massif du Mont-Blanc en plein été!
J'aime bien cette image qui donne la dimension de la montagne et aussi de sa fréquentation.
Amicalement,
Brigitte (une revenante)

nwoehnl (118) 2005-05-17 16:17

Very nice capture of this "ants procession", JY. The steepness of the textured hill is well conveyed by the postures of the folks seen here, and the side light was well managed. Fun notes.

jrj (34779) 2005-05-17 16:35

Great shot JY. the inclusion of the people walking up and down this desolated landscape works very well. Good details, fine contrasts. Yes, a photo in my liking..

sarju (5308) 2005-05-17 20:24

very impressive Yves
and your note gives a very interesting prospective of life .... the whole thing looks like a human circus to me
I also classify tourists as ego tourists: the one who travel to boost their ego and you can give whatever name to the other kind
cheers ... sarju

singuanti (15240) 2005-05-17 21:18

Hey Jean-Yves. I have never seen this famous rock from this angle. I find the reference of the people to ants very funny, as well as the note! I got good laugh out of that. The cracks and the size of the hill are especially well depicted. Excellent shot Jean-Yves!!!

apache (1426) 2005-05-17 22:26

Yeah...it does look like ants on an anthill...! Well seen and caught. Funny note but very nicely done...:)
Ranjith

Isabelle (9014) 2005-05-18 0:30

one of the best funny notes i´ve ever read, Jean Yves, congratulations!
excellent composition and the sunlight is pretty smooth.
one question: did you use dodge tool in the snake like line?

chinchini (27353) 2005-05-18 1:38

Bonjour Jean-Yves,
Beaucoup d'humour et de succès avec cette photo d'archives. Excellent document que même ChrisJ ne connaissait pas ;-))
Mais où vont donc toutes ces fourmis ? Jouir du spectacle comme tu l'as fait ?
Bien vu !
Pierre

weswang (18223) 2005-05-18 3:25

Hi Jean Yves, A nice description of the special picture. The size of the huge Uluru is well captured in this picture. You have used the sunlight very well to show the shape of the bug rock. Well done.

ChrisJ (69618) 2005-05-18 3:34

G'day Jean Yves

I've never been there, so thanks for sharing. I like the sidelighting. Tres bon!

hdl (6735) 2005-05-18 7:41

Pixelterror Aussi Studies? C'est bien marrante ta note. Trop de soleil (moosicman pourrait avoir raison...). Ta photo fait effectivement penser à des fourmis, la façon dont les gens se promènent sur la coline. Bien fait, continue!

donluicu (23921) 2005-05-18 7:56

C'est vrai que le parallèle est frappant..on dirait des fourmis sortant de leurs fourmillière...c bien vu.
a bientot
loic
ps: enfin un nom simple..lol

Guenther (6669) 2005-05-18 17:14

He he Jean Yves, a very funny note! :-))
The scene is very well captured!
When i was there I did not climb to the top since the Aborigenes do not like it... This is also a good example how tourists have no respect for local culture and beleavings ...
Thanks for sharing!

capthaddock (28640) 2005-05-18 18:46

Hi JY - I must say despite the light condition working against the photographer, you got the right amount of detail and clarity on the trail and the people on it. I love the note, this is my preferred style of humour of thinking, subtle but brilliant. I will probably not go there anytme soon because it is so popular AND expensive AND there is not much of interest within 1000km of this landmark.

taivo (1840) 2005-05-19 0:37

This shot reminds me of the climb to Mt Kinabalu. Really great perspective as the eyes follow the line of people to the peak. I would adjust the curves and reduce the highlights a bit to get deeper colours. PS. I like darker mood shots :)

laluna (258) 2005-05-20 22:07

Hi Jean, very nice shot...I had posted a similar one a while ago, but like your POV inclusion of more of the climbers, and the very witty note. Well done! Cheers, Linda

mumek (17464) 2005-06-04 22:23

Good evening Jean Yves!
I see, that the ants are not only in my backyard. Very good composition with excellent light. Super note!
regards
ziggy

magiqa (1262) 2006-01-12 17:44

Did you succeed to climb Ayers Rock? Interesting view and very good picture!

foozi (4589) 2009-09-23 23:40

Hi Jean,
wow what a sight. Beautioful perspective created by human lines. Nice presentation in a different style.
Congratulations.

Regards,
Foozi