Simorgh ( a miraculous bird) and Son Photo

Photographer’s Note

Shāhnāmé, or Shāhnāma (Persian: شاهنامه ), "The Book of Kings" , is an enormous poetic opus written by the Persian poet Ferdowsi around 1000 CE and is the national epic of the Persian-speaking world. The Shāhnāmeh tells the mythical and historical past of Iran from the creation of the world up until the Islamic conquest of Iran in the 7th century.

Ferdowsi was born in 935 in a village near Tus, in Greater Khorasan (now part of the Iranian province Razavi Khorasan). To compose his great epic, he devoted more than 30years; as he himself says in Shahnameh ; “ ... I suffered during these thirty years, but I have revived the Iranians with the Persian language; I shall not die since I am alive again, as I have spread the seeds of this language ... ”

Ferdowsi has a unique place in Persian history and literature because of the strides he made in reviving and regenerating the Persian language and cultural traditions.

There are memorable heroes and heroines of the classical type in Ferdowsi's work such as Zal and Rostam . The photo has been taken of a statue in Ferdowsi's mausoleum . The statue belongs to the miraculous bird (Simorgh) and Zal ( Rostam's father). According to the tale, Zal had
been reared by Simorgh (the miraculous bird ) when he was abandoned as a child in the
wilderness by his father who could not bear his child being an albino.

Today is the honoring of Ferdowsi in Iran and because his Shahnameh has been translated in to 30 languages , I decided to send an image related to him and his book. In workshop I have also uploaded a photo of Ferdowsi's mausoleum.

AiresSantos, stego, Leo71538, noborders, sayat, skippy007, saeed, kiwi_explorer, Dyerco, Clementi, ALIRIZA, siolaw, adores, SAMANDI has marked this note useful

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stego (22344) 2008-05-14 12:28

Salam Atousa,
A beautiful 'portrait' of the stone sculpture accompanied by an interesting and informative note. The POV is very tidy, with the wings leading the eye to the boy (angel?) guarded by the proud eagle.
It may show y total ignorance about History of Art, but it's not the kind of sculpture that I would expect to see in a Muslim country. Maybe it is because the face reminds me much the angels that are often seen in churches...
Regards, José.

[2] +

Leo71538 (438) 2008-05-15 3:48

Very nice capture on such an important day. See my recent post too. TFS
Akbar.

noborders (14197) 2008-05-15 4:02

Salam Atousa, this is great and interesting, your note explains well the importance of the Shâhnâme - I did not know that Ferdowsi's mausoleum was so close to Mashhad, famous for another reason ! Do you know the date of this beautiful relief, I wonder ? Light is very beautiful !
TfS and compliments,
Cath.

AiresSantos (41636) 2008-05-15 23:22

Salam Atousa,
Very nice 'portrait' of the Simorgh and Son. Excellent composition in black and white format. I also like your note and how you manahed the light here
Warm greetings
Aires

skippy007 (6911) 2008-05-16 3:31

Hello Atousa,
A very nice capture of this interesting sculpture, good clarity & tones. Thanks for an interesting & informative note to go with it.
santo

saeed (32) 2008-05-16 20:55

Salam atousa
Very nice portrait & good note for important day;
TFS
saeed

kiwi_explorer (12195) 2008-05-17 2:34

Hi Atousa,
Great POV ...very good tonal range and contrast. Good informative and interesting note. Well composed with good resulting image quality. Well done! tfs
Cheers,
Renier

Dyerco (8928) 2008-05-17 7:43

Hello Atousa
The B&W presentation works so well here. We see lots of detail in the stonework and the lights really give it a 3D look. Nicely done.
Phil

Clementi (43233) 2008-05-17 15:36

ciao Atousa,
interesting and well taken again detail about this mausoleum. interesting also the note very much .
nice work
Giorgio

sayat (2941) 2008-05-18 7:45

Hi Atousha, a very fine shot of detail. The light illuminating the half of the face of simorg is very well captured. But most of all, thank you for the wonderful info on Ferdowsi and Shahnameh, I think it must be great to read it in the original language.

ALIRIZA (16195) 2008-05-20 4:11

Salam Atousa,
An interesting portrait of the stone sculpture. Beautiful light and good details. Well done my dear fiend...
All the best...
Ali Rıza

siolaw (25716) 2008-05-22 9:04

Salam Atousa,
A very interesting story about Ferdowsi, whom I didn't know.... The sculpture in the picture is well framed with nice detail and texture rendering... The light was good and gave nice shadows, enhancing the shapes on the face and wings.
Good job
Laurent

crckt (7023) 2008-05-25 6:11

Salam Atousa,
I like this upward POV, the compostion is excellent as well.
Good shot,
Shaeri

toto (18603) 2008-05-28 3:45 [Comment]

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adores (15357) 2008-06-03 16:31

Hi Atousa!
Very nice detail! It's very well framed, with good sharpness. I guess I would never guess what it represents.

edal (6567) 2008-06-24 6:35

Salam Atousa!
Thank you for this artistic detail from the Mausoleum. B/w is very becoming to the marble structure. The story of the poet is interesting too. I've got the Shahname book at home - a Russian translation...
Friendly greetings,
Anton

BWJ (1771) 2008-07-06 7:23

Salam Atousa,
Using black and white creates a dynamic picture of the stone sculpture of Simorgh and his Son. The composition is well balanced with sharp surface details. Thank you for the interesting note!
Warm wishes,
Betty

kschanna (2612) 2008-11-11 2:38

Asalam-o-Alaikum Atousa

A beautiful tribute to a great poet. so much of the great persian culture is deeply rooted in what we have in the subcontinent, and its beautiful...simourgh, surkhab, rustam, sohrab....countless tales.

thanks for sharing
Kamran