The Lakes of Ubari Sand Sea

The Ubari Sand Sea is a widespread area of towering sand dunes in the Fezzan region of south-western Libya. However, around 200,000 years ago, this was an extremely wet and fertile region with plenty of rainfall and flowing rivers. These rivers fed a gigantic lake, even the size of Czech Republic, in the Fezzan basin called Lake Megafezzan. Well, during the humid temperature the lake stretched to a maximum size of 120,000 square kilometers. As the climate changes, it cause the region, a part of Sahara, to slowly dry up and between 3,000 to 5,000 years ago. But the lake evaporated away into thin air. Hints of this great lake still exist nowadays in the form of micro lakes dispersed among the towering dunes like wet patches in the desert. Presently there’re about 20 lakes in the Ubari Sand Sea - beautiful palm-fringed oases that appear like anomalies in the harsh desert environment. Among the most attractive of the lakes are Gaberoun and Umm al-Maa (the Mother of Water). It is located besides the ruins of the old village; Gaberoun is the place, which one tourist mostly visits. There is a rudimentary tourist camp on the shore, including an open patio, sleeping huts, and a souvenir shop. There’re two more lovely lakes – “Umm al-H'isan” (the Mother of the Horse), also spelt as Oum El Hassan, which is located north of Gaberoun; and another one at Tarhouna, about 11km from Umm al-H'isan. These are, however, rarely visited by tourists.

The Ubari lakes are very salty; due to the fact that these lakes are being incessantly evaporated and have no rivers replenishing them (Libya has no persistent rivers that persist year-round. This has caused the dissolved minerals in the lake waters to become concentrated. Some of these lakes are nearly five times saltier than seawater. Some take on blood-red hue from the presence of salt-tolerant algae. Although the Ubari Lakes are not exactly shallow, ranging from 7 to 32 meters in depth, they’re at the risk of drying out. The waters in Sahara’s underground aquifers, that were deposited tens of thousands of years ago in much wetter times, is limited and this is now declining, however thanks to the increasing use of aquifer water by growing human populations. Almost thirty years ago, the Libyan government accepted an ambitious project called “Great Man-Made River”, aimed at drawing water from the aquifers beneath the Fezzan region via a network of underground pipes to make the desert bloom. The project, if successful, will drain these enormous reserves of fresh water in just 50 to 100 years.Source: Amusing Planet

Lofoten - A Time-Lapse Postcard

This is a time-lapse postcard I’ve made during my stay at the Lofoten islands in Norway from March 21 to march 31, 2015. It is located above the Arctic Circle, Lofoten is an archipelago of that protrudes from the coast of northern Norway and spreads far into the Atlantic Ocean. The islands provide rapidly changing weather conditions, jagged mountains and green lagoons with sandy beaches.

During my ten days stay there I’ve filmed at numerous locations including Uttakleiv, Skagsanden, Vikten, Haukland, Ramberg, Hamnøy, Reine and a many of which are small fishing villages. One of the primary industries are the making of stock fish, which is unsalted fish, particularly cod, dried by cold air and wind on wooden racks on the foreshore, called "hjell". The drying of food is the world's oldest recognized preservation method, and dried fish has a storage life of quite a lot of years.

The equipment I used as below.

Canon EOS 6D

Canon EF 14mm 2,8L II USM

Canon EF 16-35mm 2,8L II USM

Sigma 24-70 2,8 DG HSM (Which accidentally fell into saltwater and is now pronounced dead)

Kessler 5' Cineslider

Kessler second shooter 3 axis motion control

Manfrotto 536 x2

LEE 100 mm filter system (ND softgrad 0,3 - 0,6 - 0,9 + Little stopper + 105 polariser)

Lofoten - A timelapse postcard from Lasse Henning on Vimeo.

Machu Picchu, A Walk Through The Clouds.

This movie is made by Nu Parnupong Plus on a preview of my work from South America trip.The magical moment of watching Machu Picchu appear amongst the fog and cloud on the sunrise. It's remarkable moment in my life. Perhaps a million photographs of Machu Picchu have been taken but to see this magical moment with your own eyes it's speechless. I was standing there more than three hours to watch this moment while it's raining and cold to shoot the time-lapse shot of this moment is the memorable moment. 

Shooting with Panasonic GH4 + Lumix 7-14mm

I use the time-lapse mode and convert to 4K footage in camera.

Editing and downscale to 1080p by Final Cut Pro X

Machu Picchu,A walk through the clouds. from Nu Parnupong on Vimeo.

Antarctica From Kelle Ljung

This movie was shot during our 20 days trip to Antarctica in December 2014 to January 2015. We decide to start from Ushuaia in Argentina and then go on towards to Port Williams in Chile, rounded Cape Horn and crossed the Drake Passage towards the Melchior Islands in Antarctica. However, we’ve spent sixteen days in the Antarctic and got to experience the most astonishing scenery and wildlife before we returned back to Ushuaia. The Filmed with GoPro HERO3+ Black Edition and DJI Phantom 2, edited with Final Cut Pro X. Music from Music Bed with rights.

Antarctica from Kalle Ljung on Vimeo.

The Lonely Castle of Mada'in Saleh

Mada'in Saleh (also known as “Hegra”) actually is an ancient city of pre-Islamic period situated in northern Saudi Arabia, approximately 1400 km to the north of capital Riyadh.  In the barren desert landscape of northern Saudi Arabia, an ancient tomb half-carved from a single rock rises four stories tall from the arid plain. It lies in a strategic position on one of the most significant ancient trade routes, which were connected south of the Arabian Peninsula to the north, as well as to the great economic and cultural centers of Mesopotamia, Syria and Egypt.

Therefore; the most spectacular among these ruins and the most iconic symbol of Mada’in Saleh “ Qasr al-Farid “lonely castle", the unfinished structure dates back to the first century A.D. during the rule of the Nabateans. Mada'in Saleh was the Nabatean kingdom's southernmost and second largest settlement after Petra, its capital in present-day Jordan. The ancient city dates back to the 2nd century B.C., when it was recognized as a strategic post on a key trading route that interlinked the north and south of the peninsula, as well as key cities around the Mediterranean.

Qasr al-Farid is one of 131 monumental tombs carved in the area lot of centuries ago. This is the most iconic symbol of Mada'in Saleh, the most spectacular facade, cut out of a solitary sandstone outcrop, permits us to see how the “Nabateans” chiseled their buildings from the top-down. Even though the tomb was never completed, and it has remained unusually well-preserved due to the arid climate.

The "lonely castle,"  and other surrounding monuments, have relished renewed fame after UNESCO proclaimed Mada'in Saleh a site of patrimony becoming Saudi Arabia's first World Heritage Site in 2008. It is considered one of the most central and oldest ancient cities in the country, as Mada'in Saleh is an archeologically vital site with royal ruins that are often compared with those of Petra, because it stands completely isolated from the others.

In spite of its fanciful name, Qasr al-Farid is only a tomb and it was carved out of a single rock sometime in the first century A.D., but its facade was never finished which makes the tomb an interesting study. The heavily chiselled surface of the lower third documents how these tombs were designed from the top down. Moreover; Qasr al-Farid is just one of ninety-odd such monumental tombs carved here during the heyday of the Nabataeans.

 Source: Amusing Planet  

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