merzouga

Life on the Dunes

The sand dunes of the Sahara desert represented a clash in anachronism: ancient nomadic Bedouin lifestyles adapted to modern living, the ship of the desert ferrying people alongside 4x4 zooming across the dunes, berber desert camps nestled side by side with modern hotels replete with pools and air-conditioning. It was, therefore, hard to capture the true essence of the desert that I had come to seek here. This scene was one such attempt at capturing that figment of a nomadic life.

Erg Chebbi

Morocco

Sky's Necklace

As dusk turned to twilight and to night, the varied hues on the sand dunes of the Sahara Desert slowly faded away, and the starscape slowly came into view. First, it was only the brightest stars and the well-recognizable constellations, but soon, even the faintest ones started twinkling, a kaleidoscope of white glitter against a black carpet.

And with that, the faint band of the Milky Way became visible. Arching across the sky towards the north, the Sky's Necklace was less brighter than what I had been used to back in California, yet it was prominent in its march across the starscape. It was still high up in the sky, thwarting any meaningful attempt at photographing it.

I waited for a few more hours, until the crackle of the campfire slowly died down and voices of the denizens of the Berber campsite faded away. This time, the bright arch of the galactic plane was closer to the horizon, and unfortunately, also closer to the bright lights from cities a few dozen kilometers away. Nevertheless, I persisted and captured this image during the dark hours of midnight, feeling the cold wind in my face, and freezing sand on my feet.

Microsoft's Image Composite Editor did a fantastic job with the panoramic stitch, whilst Photoshop helped transform the result into the glorious scene I witnessed that night out on the dunes of Morocco

Erg Chebbi Dunes
Morocco