Rub Al Khali

I was going through some old photos of Saudi and came across a few that I had taken using a Minolta Dimage 7 (5 Mp). Unfortunately, the originals were shot as jpegs, which limited the scope for editing but I have cleaned them up as far as possible without too much degradation.

The area of Saudi concerned is the Rub al Khali, otherwise known as the Empty Quarter, and all of the following images were shot on the way to a very isolated place called Sharurah (close to the Yemen border). A quick search on Google earth just shows how desolate the area is and where the boundaries for off road driving are dictated simply by how much fuel you can carry.

Believe it or not, this garage serves fuel and has a small shop!

The prevailing winds have a marked affect on the orientation of the dunes, the peaks (as above) stretch for miles in virtually straight lines and run parallel to each other. If you travelled along the dune line (NW) for about 700 miles, you might eventually reach Oman.

This area had a very different landscape hundreds of years ago and as a consequence, the entire region is littered with manmade flint objects, ranging from arrow heads to shaping tools. Wind and time have uncovered sites where these artefacts can be plucked from the surface of the sand, the above location being one of them.

A Welsh morning view

I stayed at a relative's house in Wales over the festive period and as usual took my camera. The morning of the 26th was quite frosty and the view across the fields appeared almost monochromatic, on account of the low hanging mist.

Karina and Robert's wedding

The event was set in a lovely hotel nestling in a picturesque Welsh hillside, accompanied throughout the day by the very last of the warm summer weather. There were a handful of formal shots to take but for the most part, I was given free reign to capture the spirit of the day.

Claire and Derek's wedding

The wedding took place at Ashton memorial on the 6th September and considering the deluge around midday, they were very lucky as far as the weather was concerned. The rain stopped during the entire ceremony and we even had a brief window to take some outdoor shots before the clouds rolled in and returned us to the status quo. Despite being quite windy, with hair and loose clothing blowing all over the place, the day went well.

Recent photos

I have been through some of my archive photos and have updated the black and white and the landscape sections. It's similar to buying a record for the A side and then growing to like the B side! Hopefully, a few trips out into the countryside will yield some new material and you get to view the great outdoors from my perspective.

Wigan WOW festival

I popped down to Mesnes park in Wigan town centre on Sunday to try and capture some of the atmosphere of the WOW festival. Not quite as good as last year but still plenty of variety to entertain most. I particularly liked the flamenco dancers and with the right background and lighting conditions, they would have produced some stunning photography of dancers in action. At least the weather was well behaved.

Band shoot:- Danny, Mike and Darren

Just a small selection from the band shoot on Saturday, shot at Salford quays and in Danny's lounge.