Exibition, Edinburgh Botanical Gardens: The Nature of Iraq

This exhibition seeks to convey 'The Other Side' of the news-reported life in Iraq, that of the wonderful scenery, wildlife and traditional culture that persists in spite of war and oil extraction, and the great work that is being taken forward by the offical NGO Nature Iraq.  Over the last eight years Nature Iraq has made annual surveys of the Mesopotamian marshes, western steppes and the woods and mountains of Kurdistan-Iraq.  The photographers are all also Nature Iraq biologists and they are:Karsh Ararat from Suliemaniyah, Omar Fadil from Baghdad, Mudhafar Salim from Diwaniyah and Nabeel Abdulhassan.

Below are some of the images I found most stimulating.

Sara Mountain - North East Iraq by Korsh Ararat

I think that the panoramic format suits this image.  Although the dark bottom right corner does take the eye somewhat , it does hel provide perspective as does the beautiflly jagged ridge of the mountain as it leads the eye into the image

Marbled Ducks en Masse by Mudhafar Salim

The out of focus image in the foreground balance the image without distracting the eye.  The huge flock og ducks adds interest to the image and is similar to many of my high tide flight images from Cleethorpes.  This would be a good choice for the assignment 3 image on water.

Boat Traffic by Omar Fadil

A vertical format is used here and this suits the linear water course and the upright figures.  It is a good example of using people in a landscape toprovide perspective and focus.  The figures are too distant to be a portrait but close enough to be an important part of the image.

Marshes - image 6 by Mudhafa Salim

Here there is a beautiful reflection of the sun on the water of the lake.  The two people, the boat and the reeds are silhouetted against the golden water.  This a superb image and my only nit picking criticism would be that i would have placed the boat a little more to the right to give it room to 'move' into the image. This would make an excellent image for Assignment 3's theme of water and also could be used for the projects on sunset and twilight.

Boat with Reeds (no image available)

This shot features a boat on the marshes with a boatman and a load of reeds.  This is a summer image as the reeds are green.  There is a curious double reflection in this image with the boatman reflected upside down and then what appears to be a reflection of the reflectikon as the boatman appears the right way up again.

Camel and Sunset from the 'atmosphere' section of the exhibition but again no available image.      

This in panorama format and would be good for the projects on sunrise/set and twilight.  It is taken with a telephoto lens so the sun is large in the picture and the sky is all orange with no gradual gardation of colours.  The camel is in silhouette.               

What have I learned from this exhibition?

I am reminded of the fact tht it is useful on occasion to use figures in the landscape as in the relevant chapter in Galen Rowell's book Mountain Light.  In my last assignment I used two figures in a landscape of North Landing at Flamborough Head.  This was the one shot my tutor didn't like in the series and I made the mistake of not making my intentions clear enough.  It wasn't certain wether the focus was on the figures or the piece of seaweed in the foreground.  Both this and the exhibition reminds me that I need to take care to have my intentions in taking an image clear in my mind while composing and framing the shot and before I press the shutter.  Something I will endeavour to do in the future.

All images used are by Nature Iraq and permission for their use was sought.