Photographing scale in Egypt and Jordan
Posted on: 8 Jan 2012
Written by: Ngaire Ackerley
My recent travels took me to the unique countries of Egypt and Jordan. These countries provided excellent opportunities for experimenting with scale in photography.
I love landscape travel photography as much as the next person, if not more. I sometimes find myself subconsciously composing photographs that crop out people to allow for the natural beauty to show through the image uninterrupted. However, whilst in Egypt and Jordan I couldn’t help but think that my photographs were not conveying a sense of scale that was necessary to portray with the Pyramids of Giza and Petra.
Petra and the Pyramids of Giza show incredibly daunting heights when you’re there in person. However, when you see these places in photographs there is often little to compare them to – how do viewers really know how large they are?
So, during my recent trip I started photographing these landscapes with people and animals in them to help show a sense of scale in the pictures. Little people littered inside an amphitheatre or camels near a pyramid can show the sheer height of the architecture present around them.
When I take a photograph in a new and unusual place I try to remember to ask myself what I think is important to convey in the image:
Is it the sheer beauty of the scenery?
Is it the height or distance of an object?
Is the emotion or colour?
Or is it simply recording a culture that is so different to what I know?
All of these questions help direct a photographer to what they want to focus on or emphasize within a photograph. This can suggest a multitude of new options such as a new angle with a unexpected object in it, to portray a sense of scale within an image.
Within these images I’ve started to thinking outside the box and tried to include people and animals in a way that still displays the beauty of the countries I visited. I’ve found this to be a stepping-stone in discovering new creative ways to document my travels through photographs.
To see more photographs form my recent travels to Egypt and Jordan please visit my photographic travel portfolio »
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