johnrochaphoto.net

Caption:

A Masked Mummer at the annual Rose Festival in Kazunlak, Bulgaria

Description:

Kazunluk is the centre of the important rose industry in Bulgaria.

The rose festival in Kazunluk in Bulgaria takes place every summer.

As well as the dancing and singing and processions of folk performers it marks the importance of an industry which provides the raw material to many of the worlds most famous perfume companies.

If you want to use this stock photo go to Photographers Direct.

Photo Comments:

Festivals are a popular source of stock photos and can be related to travel and toursim as well as more weighty anthropological concerns.

I’ve been to this festival for a number of years and it gets bigger every time.

It’s probably too big and crowded now.

From the photographic point of view the crowds are a problem and often the sun is harsh and high which makes exposure difficult.

added to this there’s a lot of action so it’s handheld shooting.

For this photo I walked away from the crowds knowing the mummers would come down the hill where I waited for them.

I used my 70-300mm Canon zoom with image stabilization on.

I was looking for a sharp close up with the main figure isolated.

I achieved this through crouching a little so that I could shoot up against the sky.

New Feature: Alamy Lightboxes.

As I develop this blog I’ll try to introduce some new features.

This time I’ve included some Alamy lightboxes which you can see on the right.

I’ll change these lightboxes now and then.

Hope you find them interesting.

Caption:

Statue of Pharaoh Rameses II dating from the the 13th century BC at Abu Simbel, Egypt

Description:

The great archeological site of Abu Simbel was built during the reign of Pharaoh Rameses II in the 13th century BC as a monument to him and his wife Nefertiti.

It was relocated onto an artificial hill in the 1960s to avoid it being submerged by the artificial Lake Nasser.

This picture shows a detail of one of the four statues of Rameses 11.

The statues depict him moving from youth to age and this is the first and youngest image.

In it he is wearing the double crown of Lower and Upper Egypt.

If you want to use this picture, click here for Footprint

Photo Comments:

For many, many years I have wanted to go to Egypt.

I’ve been lucky enough to have seen some of the world’s most famous and not so famous sights but I felt that seeing the ruins of Ancient Egypt was a must.

I was not disappointed.

For this picture I decided to concentrate on close-up detail.

As I was at quite a distance I chose my 70-300 zoom at the long end and made sure that the Image Stabilization was turned on to help me handhold without shake.

As the light was good I was able to keep a fast shutter speed.

Caption:

Storm Over The Tomb of Bin Ali In Salalah the capital of Dhofar in the Sultanate of Oman.

Description:

Bin Ali was a famous Islamic Saint and sage and this is his tomb in the Dhofar area of Oman.

Dhofar is the southern region of Oman centred on the regional capital Salalah.

Bin Ali’s tomb is one of the finest examples of medieval Islamic architecture in the region.

If you want to use this picture, click here for Alamy

Photo Comments:

This has been one of my most successful photos.

It has sold as a travel photo in a number of outlets sometimes in the Arab press.

It has also been successful purely as a photo in its own right.

And of course, it has attracted some controversy.

Not because of its content but because of its composition.

This photograph is a combination of two photos that I took especially with this composition in mind.

Like many photographers I believe in pre-visualization rather than just relying on luck and random shooting – though this can yield some great pictures too.

This photo was taken with my Bronica 6×6 film camera.

I was visiting Salalah the beautiful southern province of the Sultanate of Oman when I found this tomb.

I knew as soon as I saw the scene that I would need a different sky and composed my photo accordingly.

I was confident, and rightly so, that there would soon be storm clouds in the sky.

I later combined my two photos after scanning the film.

When this photo appeared in Practical Photography, the editor of the time, William Cheung sent my a note saying, “Nice one John”.

Some readers were not so happy.

I blame those who have no understanding of the history of photography and those who still promulgate the view that photography is literally “truthful” in some way.

I was accused of being a bad photographer, dishonest and untalented.

Well everyone’s entitled to his or her view but I stand by this picture and the process.

I used the standard 80mm lens for both originals steadying my Bronica on my old Slik tripod.