Camels at Sunset in the Desert of Wadi Rum in Jordan

One of the highlights of my recent journey to Jordan, was the trek through the amazing desert of Wadi Rum. It was a special place and full of surprises. When I think of desert, my mind automatically turns to giant sand dunes, no vegetation or water and a harsh, hot, dry climate. So I wasn’t expecting to find plants and trees growing all over the place, large mountains, and Bedouin people tending their herds of goats. The last thing I would have expected was to find water just a few inches below the surface of the ground, which is exactly what my guide Khaled  showed me as we took a break in the middle of nowhere, to build a small fire in order to mak some tea. The ground we sat upon was warm desert sand, but as we dug with our hands in that sand, almost immediately we found the ground to be wet. No wonder then was I seeing so many plants all over the place, in some places in Wadi Rum the small brush type plants went on as far as the eye could see. No matter how inhospitable the conditions or climate, life seems to find a way to exist. While the abundance of plants were a surprise to me, what was even more surprising was the Bedouin shepherds tending their flocks out in the middle of Wadi Rum. We would pass by Bedouin tents every once in a while where these hardy people live, and I would think to myself, how peaceful it must be to live in such a quiet and austere place.

I wasn’t feeling to great this day, my stomach had not been my best friend the previous couple of days and bouncing around in a pickup truck on rocky desert terrain was not helping matters much. Dreaming of indoor plumbing in the middle of the desert doesn’t make that particular wish come true, so mercifully we made a good number of stops in order for me to take a break from the bouncy, bouncy off road driving, and I was able to get some really cool shots. The photo in this post was taken near sunset, which is always a great time to be taking photos. I always appreciate it when I’m blessed with good light to shoot in, so when we came upon these camels in the golden light of the setting sun I was thrilled to be in the right place at the right time. I had less than 3 minutes to get my shot since the camels were moving and we had to keep going in order to get to the next location for sunset. That is one of my biggest problems when I’m on the road on a shoot, being at the best places for early morning and sunset light. It’s not always possible, especially when I have so many locations to cover. So often I’m moving around so quickly that I barely have a chance to absorb the atmosphere, and I’ll even forget that I photographed some places until I return home and start editing the photos.

None of the photos I took on my trip would have been possible without Royal Jordanian getting me to Jordan in style. If you’re planning a trip to Jordan, there is no better place to begin that trip than by checking out Royal Jordanian’s website.

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