Oualata Boy
Oualata,Mauritania 2005
We dutifully followed behind the headman,as he took us on a tour of the nearly abandoned village. Although it was nearly sunset, we were gasping in the heat that emanated from the sunbaked adobe walls. Sometimes we’d see a child such as this boy. When a child spied us, he’d join in our parade but for him we were the attraction.
Sand, Adobe and Sky
This was the view from my door-less “hotel” room in Oualata. The courtyard was filled with sand heaped by desert winds until it blocked what was once a door. These photos are scanned slides or positives and it is sometimes impossible to get the colors the way I want them. I posterized this and for me this is right.
Recently, I took an on-line post-processing class from Jim Zuckerman (www.jimzuckerman.com) and one of the things I learned was to add a cloud-filled sky to a photo to give it more interest. I had a sky in the photo of the boy in the street, but it was white and boring. I added this snippet of blue with clouds and my photo came to life. Try it yourself. If you don’t know how, buy one of Jim’s books or take a class from him as I am doing.
Want to see and read more about Oualata? Click the links below.
http://www.rosemarysheel.com/archives/oualata-design
http://www.rosemarysheel.com/archives/oualata-oasis-sahara
http://www.rosemarysheel.com/archives/oualata-mauritania
And for one of my own personal and terrifying adventures in the Sahara:
http://www.rosemarysheel.com/travel-stories/lost-in-the-sahara-desert