Pic(k) of the week 17: Camel caravan
When an outsider thinks about the Arabian peninsula, one of the first things that probably comes to mind, are camels. Over my ten years in Dubai, I've photographed quite a few dromedaries, also known as Arabian camels.
One of the things that has been on my to do list for a while, is visiting the relatively new Al Marmoom Camel race track on the outskirts of Dubai. Camel racing is a national sport and a long time tradition in the UAE. Races are held on different days from October to March and vary from 4km for the young camels to 10km for the larger ones.
Until about ten years ago, the jockeys were small boys from Pakistan and Bangladesh, which were secured to the saddles with velcro. For obvious reasons human rights stopped this practice and nowadays remote controlled robots are used instead.
Even though the racing season came to an end, I finally managed to go to Al Marmoom and was surprised by the overall activity just before sunset. Literary hundreds of camels are held inside large camel pens next to the track and are taken for a walk during the cooler periods of the day.
The image above of a 12 camel caravan, gives me a feel of bedouins tracking on their trusty animals somewhere deep in the desert. This is definitively a place I'll revisit in the future.
Image details:
Nikon D700 with Nikkor 70-200 VR2 2.8
ISO 400, 165mm, f8, 1/200s
RAW development in LR4
ColorEfex 4 for contrast adjustment
Nik SilverEfex 2 for Black and White conversion
More images of the afternoons shoot can be found in my "UAE Daily Life" gallery.
Don't just take picture, make pictures,
BJORN
Until about ten years ago, the jockeys were small boys from Pakistan and Bangladesh, which were secured to the saddles with velcro. For obvious reasons human rights stopped this practice and nowadays remote controlled robots are used instead.
Even though the racing season came to an end, I finally managed to go to Al Marmoom and was surprised by the overall activity just before sunset. Literary hundreds of camels are held inside large camel pens next to the track and are taken for a walk during the cooler periods of the day.
The image above of a 12 camel caravan, gives me a feel of bedouins tracking on their trusty animals somewhere deep in the desert. This is definitively a place I'll revisit in the future.
Image details:
Nikon D700 with Nikkor 70-200 VR2 2.8
ISO 400, 165mm, f8, 1/200s
RAW development in LR4
ColorEfex 4 for contrast adjustment
Nik SilverEfex 2 for Black and White conversion
More images of the afternoons shoot can be found in my "UAE Daily Life" gallery.
Don't just take picture, make pictures,
BJORN
Follow me on:
Comments