The Tundra
Kyrgyzstan 2012: On the way to Issyk Kul Lake
Torie saw the scene first and kept saying, “It looks like a painting.” I tried to see the painting but wasn’t sure if I saw it or not. The black dots which were the cattle and sheep were scattered about licking up salt or grazing. The red earth contrasted with the white areas, all sort of swirly. I guessed that was it and did my best with the composition. My keen interest in horses wouldn’t let me ignore the herder sitting on his complacent little donkey, so I placed him on the 1/3 line.
Nomadic life is still in existence. It’s lonely and hard but the Kyrgyz like it that way.
I shot this with my new d800 (32 mega pixels) and I can enlarge the photo so much that I can see that the herder’s face is turned upward to look at us standing on the cliff above. I can’t see his expression but I can see the shape of his face. Isn’t that amazing?
WHAT A GREAT SHOT, WHEN WE PASSED THAT WAY IN SEPT, OUR DRIVER & NAVIGATOR LEILA, WERE TRYING TO BREAK THE AROUND ISSYK KUL LAKE SPEED RECORD. WAS THE LAKE THAT BLUE STUFF ON THE RIGHT. TREVOR. D
Hi, Trevor,
The water near this shot was a reservoir. See http://www.rosemarysheel.com/archives/kyrgyzstan for a better view of the reservoir. Lake Issyk Kul was some distance away.
We had Leila as a guide, too. Wasn’t she brilliant? We tried and tried to ask her a question she couldn’t answer and never suceeded. We were there in October and we had a couple of days when it snowed.
Thanks for visiting my site and especially for your comment. I have more Kyrgyzstan photos that I’ll be adding now and then. Check back!
Best,Rosemary