ABOUT THE COVER SAHARA SUNSET By Vanessa Dewson, MPA WHAT I LOVE MOST ABOUT TRAVEL PHOTOGRAPHY IS THE HUNT FOR THE UNEXPECTED. THERE ARE ALWAYS THOSE POSTCARD SHOTS WE DREAM OF TAKING BUT MY FAVOURITE IMAGES HAVE OFTEN BEEN THE UNPLANNED, HAPPY DISCOVERIES. THIS ONE ENCOMPASSES THE MAGIC OF MOROCCO FOR ME. I COULD NOT HAVE HOPED FOR SUCH AN IMAGE BUT THE KEY WAS BEING READY TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE PERFECT COMBINATION OF THE RIGHT TIME, RIGHT PLACE.
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Once we caught our breath from the climb, we sat in awe on the tallest dune in the area to watch the sunset in the Sahara Desert. The sun is slowly dropping behind a carpet of dunes that stretches beyond the horizon and all the way to Timbuktu. When we fall silent, I’m struck by just how quiet it is. Everywhere else on the planet, there is some form of noise. With no trees, there is nothing for the wind to rustle and there are no birds or crickets to serenade us, there is just silence. Small tracks left in the sand and some tufts of vegetation are the only proof that life exists here. After the sun disappears, my group heads back down to our awaiting camels and drivers and I’m about to follow when I spot a great image taking shape. I hang back, watching the young family we’d just met get on their camels. They are staying at a different camp and went down the west side of the dune while we are on the east. I’m conscious that the longer I take, I’ll be holding everyone up so as soon as I get this shot, I quickly run down the dune and catch up to my group. As someone who leads photo tours and teaches photography at the Ottawa School of Art, I love to be in the same place with other photographers and see completely
different results. It’s what makes photography an art form - we each have our own vision. Seeing how someone has a different perspective or approach is so inspiring and pushes me to try to see in a new way. I typically shoot RAW so my images always need a little bit of tweaking. I use Adobe Lightroom to sort and do some basic corrections and then will pop into Photoshop for any finer retouching if needed. I like to stay true to what I saw while trying to Sahara Sunset push it beyond a snapshot. In this case, the original was a lot cooler than what I remember so I warmed it up and also cropped out most of the sky that was so washed out. In the critique from the Regional Image Salon, some judges felt I should have cropped out the sky completely since your eye is drawn to the lightest area but another judge defended it and said they liked to see how far the desert stretched. Since photography is subjective, I understand both arguments but agree with the latter and hope you enjoy the final result and it makes you dream of when we can start exploring the world again.
Vanessa Dewson, MPA Vanessa Dewson has been a member of the PPOC since 2008 and received her Masters of Photographic Arts designation in 2017. She is based in Ottawa and specializes in portrait, event, and travel photography. She teaches photography at the Ottawa School of Art and founded Focus on Photography Tours in 2015 to combine her passions of travel, photography, and teaching. You can see more of her work on her Website and on Instagram. Links below. focusonphototours.com | vanessadewson.com | instagram.com/vanessadewson
