Nile Valley Dawn Photo

Photographer’s Note

This is the view from a hot-air balloon west of Luxor, looking southwest down the edge of the Nile Valley. The first rays of daylight are hitting the mountains. The Valley of the Kings (home to King Tut's tomb and many others) and the Valley of the Queens are just to the right, not visible. The sharp transition from lush farmland to barren desert is quite typical.

Dyerco, npecanhuk, pboehringer, Docarmo, Calimero76 has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

omerozden (1241) 2008-08-18 12:17

hello ken,
it feels very good to see nile from above with fantastic eevning light and balloons.
tfs,
regards

Dyerco (9310) 2008-08-18 17:21

Excellent shot Ken. A very striking contrast that could only be seen from on high.
Phil

npecanhuk (14756) 2008-08-19 2:56

Hi Ken!
I love aerials and this one is very nice because it shows very well the contrast between the desert and the farmland!
TFS - Congratulations!
Best regards,
Neyvan

baba_flies (8115) 2008-08-19 3:02

Wow, Ken, what a view! Your photo reminds me a lot of the Swiss balloonist Eduard Spelterini and his photo work of this area. He was the most important balloonist of his time (born 1851-1932 ... had to look it up ...). You will find him in Wikipedia if you are interested (in the German version Wikipedia shows some photos). They have just published his photo work and I am a proud owner this book and one of the books I love most. This all crossed my mind when I opened your file. I like that you can see other ballons deeper down and how the green touches the desert. What an exquisite oportunity. Very well done, Barbara.

pboehringer (770) 2008-08-19 11:39

Ken,
I was there myself 3 years ago! I was standing very early morning by the pool and looking into the air to watch the hot balloons passing by and wondering what kind of view these people might have. Well, now I can see it. Simply fabulous. If I ever get back to Luxor I certainly will hop into a balloon ...!
Isn't the Hatschepsut Palace behing this mountain? I was there on the top and saw that sharp transition betwenn the lush farmland and barren desert myself.
Peter

brandstaetter (14434) 2008-08-22 6:42

Hi Ken,
it´s a panoramic view with rare contrasts: fertile plains and desert mountains. The light and colours are beautiful, and the yellow dots of the other balloons are the cream on the cake :)
Compliments, Chris

jonathan_hart (22627) 2008-08-25 0:56

so high ! impressive view !
nice light on the interesting red mount and green graphism on the left ☺
regards
jo

sunamoon (5061) 2008-09-05 15:01

Hola Ken:

Es realmente impresionante esta vista, los detalles de los globos, las montañas, el contraste de colores es una foto excelente, como todas las de tu galeria, eres un profesional de la imagen!. Buen trabajo.

Un saludo,
Elena

Docarmo (8856) 2008-09-30 7:06

Hi Ken,
Fantastic shot! Your point of view is really excellent, we can see the sunbathed top of the mountains at sunrise, it is beautiful (sunrise alpenglow?). The transition of lands is abrupt - very interesting.
Thanks for sharing,
MCV

Calimero76 (9090) 2008-10-07 5:03

Hi Ken
I like this pic, the passage enters the green countryside of the valley and the desert
I envy you in this moment
Magic moment i suppose...
Best regards
Patrice