Turkey - snap shots taken on holiday

[ajohnw]

I thought I might post a couple of shots. Whistle stop tour. Sites are often 100 - 150 miles or more apart. In many ways I like this sort of photography though.

First problem is people. This gives an idea, more round the corner and many many more behind. It's utterly amazing who has walked down this "street".



Early Christianity figure highly. This for instance is John the Baptist's tomb. Mary's house is near by. Also the church dedicated to her but it's mostly ruins but surprisingly large.



A town / city that made it's living mass producing statues and sarcophaguses. That it seems means flesh eaters and that aspect is a property of the stone used.

The statues were produced in numbers headless so soldiers who wanted to look butch might choose a lower half like this - rather poorly positioned on the site. Also styles for ladies and it seems Muslims I suspect.



Sarcophagi -- lots and lots eg



Some one was filming there. I really wondered about a good way of framing this shot. Tough. Now I feel I should have bought the long lens out. I left the "drone" in. Used by the film crew and controlled with an iPad.



One example of the inside of an early Church. Photography is still allowed in some but crowds are a problem.



As I took the 9-18mm I managed a couple of better shots of Anatolya old town this time. I used it for lots of shots - macro lens for big stuff fashion. That worked out well. Pointing the camera down caused some odd perspective problems.

Imagine climbing this tower several times a day to call people to prayer. Not so fit these days. They generally use loudspeakers.



Another problem with tours. Where should I be - other end of the street. Where would the sun have to be - definitely not where it is.



I've added some more to this flickr album and some more to go over time. Not titles yet.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/489946...7648908115570/

I fell out with the guide at this site. Not a ski slope. The calcium formations. He failed to give me time to get to the top and these were one of the main reasons for the trip.



The tiny black dots on an incline are people - even though as I learned later there is a car park at the top.

John
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[Kaye Leggett]

I love the expression of the man on the right in your first shot, you could almost think all those people are his fault.

[ajohnw]

I love the expression of the man on the right in your first shot, you could almost think all those people are his fault.

That's why I chose it from several clicks. A burst would have needed 100's. Our guide. He waves his arms about a lot when talking and is heavily into archaeology way more than most. interesting guy to talk too as well and very knowledgeable.

John
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[dje]

Nice shots John. Some of these places look familiar, we did a guided tour there earlier this year. It's a fantastic place for history.

Pity you didn't see more of Hieropolis (the last shot), it's quite beautiful at the top of the hill.

Dave

[ajohnw]

Nice shots John. Some of these places look familiar, we did a guided tour there earlier this year. It's a fantastic place for history.

Pity you didn't see more of Hieropolis (the last shot), it's quite beautiful at the top of the hill.

Dave

I think that should have been included. I reckon the guide had allowed things to get at least 1/2 a day behind when we were there. I thought we were lucky to start off with due to his knowledge. He makes documentaries for part of the year. Seems one on religion in Turkey may reach the BBC at some point. We went on another tour last year which included parts of Capadocia. Time wise it was far more organised. I was told off for being 10mins late back to the coach - with an explanation - the need to keep to the schedule. I was trapped by a Turkish lady trying to sell me something I didn't want. Rare for sellers to be like that. Very rare really.

They have far more history than they can easily handle. There is still a lot of active archeology going and will be far into the future. I took this shot to try a simple package that aligns and looks after hand held panoramas itself. Part dug and there is loads more still under brush.




I was curious to see how the sky would turn out given the lighting. The camera was in portrait orientation.

John
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[Shadowman]

Nice captures.

[IzzieK]

John...this are most interesting. Although you have some beautiful shots here, I like the colourful one with the umbrellas.

[ajohnw]

John...this are most interesting. Although you have some beautiful shots here, I like the colourful one with the umbrellas.

If I remember correctly there is no lamp post in the middle at the other end but it would mean shooting into the sun. Maybe I should have tried walking down it a little.

Glad you like the panorama idea. I hate thin strip shots but have one of those to do as well. I have 9mm on m 4/3 vertically on this shots and a bit more than that horizontally. I used Fotoxx;s simple panorama facility for it and also to correct verticals. The part column wasn't vertical but is probably bent more than it was. This I suspect is because it was so close to me.

If the forground is immediately under my feet this is what happens. 3 shots at 9mm.



It does have a facility for correcting this but not down to this FL. I'll try using Hugin on both at some point.

John
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[IzzieK]

I like the inclusion of the guy in the shot. It bring me to think of how big this place really is..(wrong sentence construction, but you know what I mean...) OT: while my head is swimming with Turkey for Thanksgiving, when I first saw your title, I thought -- another turkey shot??? but this is different...actually, thank you for taking us with you on trip as such and showing us what you saw.

[ajohnw]

I think I learned something else this time. Including people in a shot. That usually puts me off so I don't take any if I feel there are too many. Ther often is here. One of the shots on flickr has 2 people walking along in it. I took 2 exposures timed to allow the people to be removed - miss timed so 2 were left in. It turns out that they give the image scale. Where there are way too many I might have tried some street photography in rather unusual surroundings. My wife has said we wont be going again. On the other hand she said the same last year and wanted to go on this one.

John
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[IzzieK]

Too late in the night for me or too early in the yawning...that was the word I was looking for : sense of scale.

(Going back to bed...hoping the cat found another place to rest...LOL) G'night....