Shibam, a photo from Hadramawt, East

Photographer's Note

I was reminded of this post by a recent critique, so I did some work on it. Re-scanned, colour correction, levels and framed.

This is a view of Shibam in Wadi Haudremaut. I think it must be the most photographed location in Yemen, for obvious reason.

The houses of Shibam are all made out of mud bricks, but still there are about 500 tower houses, rising 5 to 9 stories high. While Shibam has existed for around 2,000 years, most of the city's houses come mainly from the 16th century. However, many were rebuilt over and over again during the last few centuries.

Shibam is often called "the oldest skyscraper-city in the world", or "Manhattan of the desert" which is a claim with quite a bit of consistency. (thanks Wiki).

I like this view of the town as it is from the same POV as a shot taken by Wilfred Thesiger in the late 1940s and included in "Arabian Sands"

I was disappointed to find that the neg had been damaged with water or perhaps mould at some point and there was a bit of PS needed to get the sky looking reasonable.

pen, holmertz, phwall, mehrdad-t oznaczył to zdjęcie jeko użyteczne

Critiques | Translate

pen (509) 2009-05-01 23:17

Hi,
Very good POv & compo. I like how you captured the contrasting color of the buildings. To me it looks like a postcard. TFS
Pedro

yannt (401) 2009-05-02 1:10

Superb shot!
Amazing.
Great!

holmertz (103732) 2009-05-02 12:17

Hello Steve,
I was surprised to find this town a bit dull when getting inside the maze of alleys. But from a slight distance, and from above, it is one of the most amazing places in the world. Like in this picture for instance. The camels add to the attraction and the cars remind us that Shibam is really part of the modern world. I remember desperately quenching my thirst in a café in one of those small builings by the road. Cropping part of the empty foreground might have been a good idea.
Regards,
Gert

phwall (6787) 2009-05-02 19:57

Hi Stephen,
An amazing sight when you think about how these buildings are made. Very good quality image, excellent sharps and light. Incredible what you can achieve with post nowadays, comparing to your original version it's like chalk and cheese.
I remembered a shot similar to this POV posted a year or so back by "eversmile", Here I remember being so intirgued by the place I went back through her gallery looking for it to compare the captures. They're similar POV, but so totally different. Your image from 10 years earlier shows a much cleaner environment, not a plastic bag in sight.
Regards
Peter

mafegan (8626) 2009-05-13 20:30

Hi Steve
You have definitely improved this image with the increased sharpness and colour enhancing. It does matter how often this view appears on TE it will always be impressive. I am wondering how acessible it is travel to today - I note Smartraveller lists Yemen as a country to reconsider travel to. Tfs, Marlene

kschanna (6) 2009-06-11 4:03

Hi Steve

This is a ......very crude and raw picture. The 'high rise' buildings standing side by side survived all that time. They look brilliant.

Thanks for sharing
Kamran

scalerman (26900) 2009-10-05 17:34

S: it's a unique cityscape - identifiable as only one place - great details and camel perspetive... c