Ksar El Ferch I, a photo from Tataouine, South

Photographer's Note

This is one of the many half ruined ghorfas of Ksar El Ferch.

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 this used to store mainly grain, but sometimes other things like straw, olives, or even animals.

In South Tunisia, ksars refer to groups of ghorfas that look like old fortified villages, 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, but others, like this one, are in the middle of nowhere.

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 some Kms North of Tataouine, 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.

More recently I posted another photo of this place (B&W, colour [ws]).

naval, superpau, Donald, dospordostres, somkiat, robertosalguero, cuneyt-sb, henrytf, maloutim, ruisc_pt has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

naval (172) 2006-11-12 13:04

Jose
This could be a very good conceptual photo, the steps which guids one from darkness to ascension...
Thats why ive sent u a ws on this shot,
Regards
Ali

[workshop] [compare]

UnTrained (0) 2006-11-12 14:08

Ola Jose,
well chosen part to be captured. Ruins have some mystic for me and I find them very interesting. I'd like to see what are behind the doors. It is a good composition with the stairs and the window above, two doors and the curved walls. The structure of the walls is excellent presented.
Regards Ulf

superpau (1464) 2006-11-12 16:34

hola Jos�
Es una foto con buen balance, entre las ruinas de esta ghorfa y el cielo, un buen complemento, teniendo en cuenta que falta el techo!
Me gusta el POV tambien, de costado. Las sombras que se proyectan en la pared es un elemento m醩 a tu composici髇.
Buen domingo!
Besos, Pau.

Donald (136) 2006-11-12 17:17

Hi Jose This works for me to, good composition and great colour of the building and sky, well captured TFS and a great note.
kind regards
Donald

dospordostres (1170) 2006-11-12 20:17

Hola Jose,
Great image you have there. Nice color composition, the detail on those walls is amazing. I would have liked a little more saturation there.
Best,
Daniel

fanch (0) 2006-11-13 4:57

Hi jose

pure lines, magnificent colours, and once more , satanic sharpness, ..a lovely photo from Tunisia !

Amiti閟,

somkiat (1104) 2006-11-13 8:24

hallo jose,
your new release from tunisia.quallity!
i like the composition and sharpness.
it's very obviously.very nicely done.nice note.
see you
somkiat

robertosalguero (292) 2006-11-13 23:39

A natural looking picture of this building. The colors are very well saturated to create the natural atmosphere of the place. Good perspective to show the interior(?) of the building. I see the little stairs leading upstairs and get an idea of what the place may have looked like when it was still livable. Good picture Jose.

Roberto

sothy81 (9646) 2006-11-14 1:33

Hi Jose:

Great color contrast you have here. Very beautiful. An interesting art fom Tunisia. Good work Jose. Sothy

bostankorkulugu (42866) 2006-11-14 3:25

superb light and very warm and bright colours... love the texture of the walls... and stairs going nowhere add a lot to this beautiful shot...congrats jose
korkut

toto (0) 2006-11-14 6:25

Belles ruines,je ne connais pas bien ce pays mais comme beaucoups vous me le faite d閏ouvrir avec vos belles photos.Thomas

cuneyt-sb (6576) 2006-11-14 12:59

Nice detailed picture of Tunisian old city ,
Good color and sharp image , well done regards

celinaconroy (717) 2006-11-16 8:19

Hi Jose,
With a penchant for portal images this has the additional attraction of featuring all these elements in the subject of a ruin that is sympathetically photographed. There are also some lovely shadows plus the clarity is just perfect.
Best wishes,
Celina

henrytf (985) 2006-11-17 4:42

Hello Jose
I like the composition of this picture very much.
I particularly like the stairs leading to the window and the sky.
The warm light is well mastered particularly in the shadows.
Beautiful picture
Friendly greetings
Henry

ruisc_pt (11594) 2007-06-26 17:38

OL� Jos�.
Acho esta foto bem conseguida pois poderia resultar numa monotonia dit髇ica.. contudo o POV equilibrou tudo dando uma perspectiva bem conseguida.
TFS

Greg1949 (9011) 2008-05-14 17:35

Jose, this one has been up here a whle but the work is impeccable. Color and detail are awesome. Great capture.

Greg