Pharaoh's Needle, a photo from Luxor, Inland

Photographer's Note

This is the remaining obelisk of the pair that once stood in front of the temple of Luxor. Extracted from the granite quarries of Aswan (about 200km further south) the obelisk is 25m high and was erected during the reign of pharaoh Ramesses II. It stands as a solar symbol closely associated with the sun god Re. This tall shaft of stone is surmounted by a small pyramid which in ancient times was covered with a sheet of electrum (an alloy containing about 80% gold and 20% silver). One can imagine the dazzling sight of the small pyramid when it was stroke by the sun rays. Most egyptian obelisks are to be found today outside Egypt in different cities like New York, London, Istanbul, Paris and Rome. The obelisk which once accompanied the remaining one is standing now on Place de la Concorde in Paris. The hieroglyphs seen in the oval shape are the name of the Ramesses II and above them are his titles: son of Re, lord of appearences Ramesses beloved of Amun, may he be given life for eternity.

rmatthews, bpelvan, Oldtree, jp80, pulezan, scalerman, phinux, pamastro, nwoehnl, Didi, Jeppe, loupiot, bibiweb, Endy, rabani, migtey, aznegrao, smash2707 has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

MiguelP (14470) 2004-10-07 13:16

I惴 just speechless. Je suis all嶪 a Luxor cet an嶪, je l徨vais aimee si tant que quand j悶tait l� je ne savais pas par ou commencer la visite... Mais Christian, cet vision est incroyable, si tant que j徨i decid� de t湧crire en fran蓷is malgr� je ne le ecrit pas parfaitment. La composition est si fort qu惱n a besoin de le voir plus d戟ne fois, et surtout, j徨i la sensation de que je veux retourner a l媧gipt as soon as I can. Merci Christian.

rmatthews (945) 2004-10-07 13:23

Very interesting crop. I'm a little wacked for all things Egyptian, but this really is a nice shot. I like the color and the contrast. Normally pictures of obelisks are vertical, capturing the dominance of them but I really like this image. Very nice...very well done.

bpelvan (3798) 2004-10-07 14:17

A touching my heart picture again. Very well composed Christian. Very sharp. Perfect DoF.
Looks beautiful with the blue sky. Well cropped.
I hope you saw the "unfinished obelisk" too and post the pic of it.
Bravo. Thanks for sharing...

PixelTerror (0) 2004-10-07 14:52

Hi Christian, a creative angle that unveils all the majesty of this obelisk, nice details on the hieroglyphs, fine art indeed, I'm kinda fascinated by ancient Egypt, so your nice photos easily find echo on me ! Tack Christian !

djenno (0) 2004-10-07 15:04

Nice, crystal clear shot! Regards, Djenno

Oldtree (2457) 2004-10-07 15:53

Very good shot, Christian. The point of view by itself is not so unusual but in combination with the hieroglyphs the stone color/texture and the blue sky it is excellent. Very well done.

pulezan (841) 2004-10-07 16:22

Wow, great view of the obelisk! The clear sky work great here and the light is great also. I always like to take this kind of picture of toll objects, I have something similar but from completely different angle and is not so good like this one (I will post in in the following days).

scalerman (26900) 2004-10-07 16:56

sharp and saturated. couldn't be better.

paido (944) 2004-10-07 17:46

Your very strong bottom-up POV gives almost the feeling of a pyramid.

The details on the obelisk are awesome... well done!

phinux (80) 2004-10-07 22:55

Congragulation! there's a very nice shot... I like this angle, contrast with the shaddow and the blue sky! the note about obelisk is very interresting!

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pamastro (7296) 2004-10-08 0:55

Beautiful shot. The close in and upward point of view is excellent. It really gives this a dramatic feel. The lighting and color and contrast are all very nicely handled here. And it all presents excellent textures on the heiroglyphs. It seems to soar right into the sky and I could imagine the glow of light reflecting off the pyramid on top at one time. Not directly visible but seen just by is brilliance. Excellent job.

nwoehnl (122) 2004-10-08 15:36

I like a lot your offbeat choice of framing here, Christian, it is very refreshing. Where most of us (including me, I guess ;-) would initially think of trying a vertical composition focusing on the "needle" only, you are going for a horizontal - even panoramic - format that keeps the distorted angle of the adjacent structures at the left, and fills the right part of the frame with just blue sky. I like the crisp detail of the engravings, and the way in which the brown tones contrast with the sky. Great shot.

CoolDan (2516) 2004-10-09 8:25

C'est fort bien pr廥ent� cette ob幨isque Christian. Belle texture et jolies couleurs. C'est bien vu.

Didi (61591) 2004-10-09 11:22

Tr鋊 bonne composition parfaitement cadr嶪, l'ob幨isque est tr鋊 bien pr廥ent嶪 ainsi avec deux croix de vie � la base.

Very good perfectly tallied composition, the obelisk is very well presented thus with two crosses of life at the base.

Jeppe (18654) 2004-10-10 15:44

A very excellent angle and idea you got here Christian to present this "hard to get in one shot" object. I like the fine details you got here as well - thanks for letting us see this - too bad I never visit this place.

loupiot (3909) 2004-10-13 7:24

Excellent and original point of view, Christian! Good light and colors on the hieroglyphs. Good contrast with the blue sky. A great shot. Very well done.

bibiweb (8) 2004-10-17 16:09

Tout est beau sur cette photo: l'angle de prise de vue, la nettet�, les couleurs. Bravo! J'y penserai lorsque je serai � Louxor le mois prochain. ;-)
Merci Christian.

Everything is good on this photo: the angle, the sharpness and the colors. Bravo! I'll keep this in mind when I visit Louxor next month. ;-)
Thanks Christian.

Endy (1025) 2004-10-18 0:40

Superb point of view Christian, that gives to the tower, a more pwerful presence in your picture. The sharpness of your picture permits us to see all the details of these hieroglyphs. Excellent contrast between the brown ruins and the blue sky.

Well done!

TakiKO (115) 2004-10-26 3:33

I like the angle of this shot, and saturated colours too, although the sun is shining brightly. Well done, Christian

paguru (1056) 2004-10-27 5:11

Hi Christian, that's an amazing photo! The sunlight angle creates great, sharp contrasts, the clarity of your image is excellent. I also like the composition, the perspective created by your POV.
Thanks,
Oliver

rabani (9645) 2004-10-29 3:34

Perfect. Even if we don't understand the hieroglyphs or writing on the wall, but its meaning must be of something belonging or for majestic reason. Your focusing is sharp and exposure, so well the scene is so well defined Christian.

aznegrao (10316) 2004-11-04 19:10

Wow Christian, esse ceu e inacreditavel. A luz muito favoravel deixou os hieroglifos muito nitidos. Composi誽o excelente. Sauda踥es
aznegrao.

MvS (4163) 2005-01-24 14:02

Christian,

Jag kollade genom dina bilder och h酺 finns m幩ga fina bilder. Den h酺 bl a med underbara perspektiv och f酺ger.

M v h
MvS

jafadabret (56501) 2005-01-31 4:32

J'ai l'intention de visiter Luxor. Mais l� cette photo me donne l'envie de partir maintenant. F幨icitation pour le cadre paysage et non le cadre portrait comme tout me monde aurait fait. Excellente photo.

smash2707 (3320) 2006-04-13 12:28

Excellent point of view and great perspective. Didn't you get dizzy when you took it? The obelisk looks great with the blue, cloudless sky. TFS, Yvonne