The Walls of Turkmaniya

[AlanLichty]

I thought I would toss in a curveball here and post something completely different. This is an image of some of the sandstone formations found near Petra in southern Jordan. The cliffs line the walls of Wadi Turkmaniya which used to be the primary footpath between the ruins at Petra and the Neolithic village site of Beidha. This dates back to the mid 70's when I was working in Petra as a archaeology graduate student. Petra contains some of the wildest sandstone formations I have ever witnessed but sadly those were my starving grad student days where I had 4 rolls of film for a 3 month trip. At the time we were living at a small encampment named Nazal's Camp within the city ruins and had unlimited access to the area that is now a Jordanian National Park.

As much as I would love to photograph that place again my understanding is that access is now quite restricted and uninhibited backcountry access is not allowed.

The Walls of Turkmaniya

• AlanLichty
• Feb 6, 2018

Colorful sandstone along the walls of Wadi Turkmaniya.

C&C always welcome.

 

[lionking]

Looks like red onion in heart frame
I like it, thats pretty interesting formation...

 

[Kyle Jones]

Very interesting. The onion comparison is a good one.

 

[Ben Egbert]

Very unique image. And beautiful too.

 

[JimFox]

What an interesting once in a lifetime experience. This is a cool shot, and what neat lines.

4 rolls of film for 3 months isn't a lot for sure. I remember those times though, definitely different in how we felt as to how many captures were adequate for a trip. I recall I had worked up to 10 or 12 rolls of film for a weeks use in Yosemite and feeling like I was a king being able to afford to shoot that much. And if I could get maybe 8 of those rolls to be 36 exposure, well I was on top of the world!

Compare that to the amount of exposures we can take now with Digital, I would have blown through all of those exposures just at one sunrise in Yosemite and been looking to shoot more!

 

[AlanLichty]

What an interesting once in a lifetime experience. This is a cool shot, and what neat lines.

4 rolls of film for 3 months isn't a lot for sure. I remember those times though, definitely different in how we felt as to how many captures were adequate for a trip. I recall I had worked up to 10 or 12 rolls of film for a weeks use in Yosemite and feeling like I was a king being able to afford to shoot that much. And if I could get maybe 8 of those rolls to be 36 exposure, well I was on top of the world!

Compare that to the amount of exposures we can take now with Digital, I would have blown through all of those exposures just at one sunrise in Yosemite and been looking to shoot more!

Yeah - 120 shots doesn't seem like much anymore. I did spend 3 summers with the excavations in Petra so I do have a lot more images than just the one season's worth. I got to know the area that is now a protected park pretty well since we were free to explore in our off time.

Valley of Fire in Nevada is the only place I have been in the US that anything even close to the stunningly bizarre sandstones at Petra.

 

[Martín el Escocés]

What a unique shot, Alan! Very interesting.

 

[BarryHamilton]

Captivating image, Alan. Very interesting indeed!