Ksar El Ferch

Photographer's Note

Here my 100th post... I was never good at choosing things to commemorate special occasions, so I am sorry if it is a bit disappointing. I hope not... :D

Although I ended up posting this version in B&W, I am not sure if I don't prefer the colour version, which I posted as WS. I am a bit puzzled with myself by discovering that I am loosing my old fascination for B&W and I confess I am not much comfortable with that.

This is Ksar el Ferch, an half ruined granary in the desert of South Tunisia, where ksar usually refers to a group of ghorfas that looks like a fortified village, although they weren't habited by people. Instead, they were granaries of nomad or semi-nomad people that camped near them part of the year. They were fortified to be more easily protected from robbery. Some of them are near or even inside villages or little towns, like the one in Medenine, but others, like this one, are in the middle of nowhere.

Ghorfa means 'room' in Arabic and it can be just that - one can ask for a ghorfa at a guest house or hotel, but it can mean also a small house like these ones, used mainly to store grain, although sometimes they could store other things like straw, olives, or even animals.

With the end of nomadism, much of them are ruined, although in recent years some of them have been partially restored to serve as tourist attractions.

Ksar El Ferch is located South of Medenine, some Kms North of Tataouine, which is a relatively important town of Southern Tunisia, whose name can sound familiar to any fan of the Star Wars movie saga, in which there is a planet called Tatooine. Many scenes of those movies were shot in Southern Tunisia and many sceneries are reminiscent of the landscapes and traditional architecture of the region.

I have another post of this place and two of the ksar of Medenine (I, II).

bostankorkulugu, adores, jmcl, batalay, riclopes, Retagger, Nilay, cobbydale, feather, lucasgalodoido, pboehringer, Wanda1, sufi, cuneyt-sb, vagabondtravels, parbo, maloutim, Dpbours has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

adores (46979) 2007-02-23 20:49

Parab閚s Jos�!
N鉶 creio que seja uma desilus鉶, acho que esta vers鉶 B&W ficou 髉tima, e uma vez mais pouco comum em fotos deste local. O POV e a textura das casinhas est� excelente!
Gosto dela, fico a a guardar para ver a vers鉶 a cores e claro para muitas mais futuras comemora珲es!
Anabela

PS: Acabo de ver a vers鉶 a cores. Acho que agora tamb閙 fiquei um pouco baralhada porque ela tamb閙 est� muito bonita.

Julian_K (1055) 2007-02-23 21:39

Hello Jose,
Congratulations on your 100th post. Fantastic subject matter, composition and contrast. I definately prefer the b&w version to the colour, so good decision. Thanks for sharing,
Jules

jmcl (14535) 2007-02-24 0:39

Hi Jose,

Well in this case I think you were right to go with the black and white ... the harsh perfectly controlled brightness you achieved .. you can just feel it .. and it sets up such a huge contrast to the doors .. now they are black openings to infinity .. in the color the big beautiful sky turns into a prime element .. but that is not what the image is about and the black and white really puts that sky in its proper place.

beautiful and striking ..
congrats .. I am looking forward to the next hundred.

take care,

John

batalay (41261) 2007-02-24 7:20

Hello Jos�,
Both the color and the B&W version are good. This one is evocative of a WWII photo shot in North Africa, and is compelling, and appeals to one's nostalgia. The one in color would have more than dazzled photographers during WWII. I cannot decide which one I prefer. Regards,
Bulent

UnTrained (0) 2007-02-24 8:01

Ol� Jos�,
first: CONGRATULATIONS my friend for 100 interesting views! Hope for more. B&W makes this together with the POV a bit oppressive, I feel small. It is less in the workshop. I am also reminded to old b&w movies. And I like this!
Lieben Gruss, Ulf

Gustaw (21670) 2007-02-24 8:25

Hi, my friend!
Interesting white and black photo. Interesting composition. Good idea. I like your arab architecture. Well done.
Marek

gilou530 (34) 2007-02-24 14:31

salut jos�
f閘icitation pour cette 100閙 en route pour les 100 suivantes, des ruines bien mise en valeur par le choix du N&B
amiti閟
gilbert

riclopes (35577) 2007-02-24 15:18

Ol� Jos�, digo-te j� que � prov醰el que n鉶 escolhesse esta da tua galeria, mas como � a 100� (estas comemora珲es t阭 sempre de ter mais visitas... ;-) aqui vai: Sou um fan醫ico pela cor e embora aprecie muitos trabalhos a P&B, nunca gosto das minhas tentativas de desatura玢o nas minhas fotos. Nesta, acho que a escolha � muito acertada, uma vez que as cores n鉶 oferecem muito � imagem desta arquitectura. O melhor desta foto � a textura da pedra e a P&B fica muito mais expressiva. Talvez at� arriscasse um pouco mais de contraste, mas n鉶 tenho a certeza se seria exagerado. A composi玢o est� boa e a arquitectura � muito interessante. S� falta um elemento humano para dar vida... ;-) A Medina I � espectacular!
Parab閚s pela 1� centena!
Um abra鏾,
Ricardo

Retagger (26) 2007-02-24 16:51

Hello Jose,

Congratulations on your 100th post!

I love black and white photos and this one is proves my point that there are still many subjects which is suitable for B/W. The textures of the wall cry out for attention along with the shadows caused by the overhead sun. Great job!

Regards,
David...

cobbydale (1958) 2007-02-24 17:18

A great shot Jose! Well composed and excellent details captured with great definition. If I'm honest I prefer the colour version - this is good, but that's even better.
cheers, Leon.

MIG13 (0) 2007-02-24 20:58

Sua foto de n鷐ero 100 � um excelente exerc韈io de bom uso do branco & preto, Jos�! 觮imo contraste e detalhes primorosos dessa bela e misteriosa constru玢o! Parab閚s! Miguel.

feather (51130) 2007-02-25 5:30

Congratulations for reaching 100 posts.
My usual preference is for colour but occasionally I see B&W that I like. In this case I think I prefer the colour mainly because of the sky. There is such a lot of it and in B&W it's just grey, whilst in colour the blue contrasts beautifully with the orange stones. Maybe if you selectively darkened the sky? Images with cloudy skies often look good. I'm still trying to define my own feelings about B&W so just ignore me.
Kath

Nilay (1323) 2007-02-25 5:49

hi,

congratulations for your 100th photo,

very great idea,
superb POV,
excellent contrast,
Nilay

bostankorkulugu (42866) 2007-02-25 10:03

one of your best lately jose... cool compo and B&W works really well here, has more character than the original one, more impressive... i like it a lot, congrats my friend...

korkut:)

paura (25802) 2007-02-25 18:07

Jos�,
Angulo de tomada perfeito para mostrar as lindas inperfei珲es dessa antiga constru玢o.

Paulo

sothy81 (9646) 2007-02-25 18:42

Hi Jose. This is a very nice photo. Well captured with sharpness. To me it is a little bright. But it is fine. Nice architecture. Sothy

lucasgalodoido (27698) 2007-02-25 19:02

Ol� Jos�!
Parab閚s pela 100a. foto! Boa escolha tamb閙 pelo P&B, cria bons contrastes na imagem!
Parab閚s e Abra鏾!

pboehringer (770) 2007-02-25 20:37

Congratulations, Jose! I think it is interesting never to really loose the joy in experimenting. Generally speaking I like B&W a lot, but it has to be the right photography. I have the feeling that your choice was correct here. The texture of the ruins/ building looks quite interesting. Recently my attention was drawn to a web-page with an alternative approach how to convert a colored digital picture into B&W. I didn't have the opportunity to try it so far. Check it out: http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/photoshop/b-w.htm.
Regards, Peter

Wanda1 (15142) 2007-02-25 23:52

Hi Jose,
I like the angle that you have used here. The choice of black and wite brings out the great textures on the building well. Nice and contrasty.
Regards
Wanda

capthaddock (28790) 2007-02-26 12:02

Hi Jose - congratulations on the 100th, while I do prefer the colour version, this one also has an artistic appeal, but the strong red and blue contrast of the original has more visual impact for my preference.

berek (50518) 2007-02-26 23:23

Ol� Jos�,
congratulations for your 100th picture. I am waiting for beautiful next 100 post impatiently from you. interesting historical architecture. well framed .
Um abra鏾,
Burak
****

pastadog (13111) 2007-02-27 5:09

Hi Jose, and congratulations for this 100th. I like this B&W version, but then I looked at the colour version and I found it even better, I definitely like the colors of the building and the light there. Mysterious architecture. Regards, Daniel

sufi (9588) 2007-03-01 4:37

Ol� Jos�, my friend...
First of all congratulations for 100th. photograph... Wonderful... It's a wonderful and very dramatic composition, indeed... The light, the details on the old wall, and the point of view are perfect... Your B&W choice is great...
TFS...
Stay well..
Salim.

cuneyt-sb (6576) 2007-03-01 5:13

Hi Jose
Congrats your 100.th post , i hope ill get there too,
TFS/Kind Regards

vagabondtravels (6511) 2007-03-01 5:52

Hi Jose

Congratulations on your 100th post. Good note and te photo. Nice b&w maybe up the contrast a little. But good work under the harsh light. Really well done.
Ben

Bluejeans (64251) 2007-03-02 8:32

Ola Jose acho que as duas fotos t鉶 otimas , gostei da textura das pedras , bom angulo de foto , parabens pela foto n� 100!!!
Um abra鏾 Gon鏰lo

Benedict (7076) 2007-03-03 0:36

congratulations on your 100th posting!
keep on shining, my friend. this is awesome!!
benedict

parbo (11092) 2007-03-04 2:41

Ol� Jos�,

Congratulations for your first hundred posts and with many, more, a lot hundred and thousand posts as you did before.

Your careful work is stunning in your photo as usual. I like excellently angled wall and spectacular stones textures on fa鏰de a lot too. Splendid grey tones and especially dark windows, doors and narrow staircase are adding great value to your photo. Congratulations.

Sorry my late visit, I was busy and gave a break since one week and you already posted beautiful photos.

Friendly Regards,

Ertugrul

Yar (793) 2007-03-04 4:38

Hello,
nice walls!
very sharp and it looks very old.
the grey tones ages the photo even more:)

Dpbours (222) 2007-09-11 23:58

Hi Jos�,

I'm in a black and white mood today. But it took some time to find a black and white in your gallery! I think that if you have 5 in total it will be a lot!! ;-)
Well, scenes like this clearly deserve black and white! The fun thing is that nowadays you can clearly see which shots had the pleasure to go through Lightroom or PS CS3. The channel mixing options are just great these days and digital black and white came a long way over time. Nice shot! A slight over exposure, but that's okay!

Greetings!
Dennis

Photo Information

Copyright: Jose Pires (stego) (24132)
Genre: 风景
Medium: 黑白
Date Taken: 2005-07-30
Categories: Architecture, Ruins
Camera: Olympus E-300, 14-45 mm Zuiko Digital
Exposure: f/9.5, 1/250 seconds
More Photo Info: view
Photo Version: Original Version, Workshop
Travelogue: Tunisia 2005
Theme(s): My 100th, 100th Posts, !Top rated ex, 100th on TE [view contributor(s)]
Date Submitted: 2007-02-23 20:36