Pete Turners Rolling Ball Pete Turner was a budding Photographer for National Geographic in the late fifties. He is one of my favourite photographers. Id like to share an anecdote I wrote in PhotoMalaysia, some time ago, about how the mind of a great photographer like Pete Turner, works. I shot the first photo in the Nubian Desert of Sudan, on 31 August 2004. I was celebrating Malaysias Independence day by being a member of a team that was going to be the first Malaysians ever to cross the Sahara desert in a 45 days epic drive from Khartoum in Sudan, through the Sahara Desert in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and to Casablanca in Morocco. That fine evening, the setting sun was a flaming crimson ball, low down the horizon. I shot the truck of a fellow team member in front of my own vehicle, with the steering wheel in one hand, and my camera in the other. Rolling Ball is one of Pete Turner’s most iconic photos. Pete Turner shot his Rolling Ball in 1959, deep in the Bayuda Desert of Sudan, a location I have also been privileged and blessed to have visited and shot. When I was there in 2004, I had not yet seen Pete Turner’s photo. There was a setting sun as well, albeit a little low below the horizon when I passed the location. Even if it was in the right position, most of us, me included, probably would never have seen in our mind’s eye, what Pete Turner saw and shot. Its a valuable learning experience for us, about how the minds of great photographers work. Hope everyone will learn something from Pete Turner’s Rolling Ball. The second picture is Railway Shack #16. I shot this photo in 2004, in the Nubian desert of Sudan, somewhere between Abu Hamed and Wadi Halfa, while driving from Khartoum to Casablanca. I thought at that time it was quite a good sunset photo, until 2011, when I discovered that this very location, half a century earlier in 1959, was the exact spot where National Geographic photographer, Pete Turner had shot his iconic Rolling Ball. The Third photo is Pete Turner’s iconic Rolling Ball . You can read about how Eric Meola found the location at this link ericmeola.blogspot/2010/07/finding-pete-turners-rolling-ball.html . When I saw Eric Meola’s photo of Railway Shack #16, I instantly realised that I also had a photo shot at that same exact location. However, my photo is nothing. Pete Turner’s Rolling Ball taught me that a great sunset photo is not only a picture of the sun and the sky. In 1959, Pete Turner created magic with nothing at all. It was a humbling discovery, which drove the point home for me, that it takes a little bit of imagination to make a great photo of a sunset. You can read my rant about how to shoot a great sunset picture at this link photomalaysia/2014/01/02/how-to-shoot-sunsets-and-sunrises/ In 1959, Pete Turner was near the end of his epic 7 month journey in an Airstream Trailer, transecting Africa from Capetown to Cairo. Turner was on his first assignment for National Geographic. He saw the conical structure of Railway Shack #16 in the middle of the Nubian Desert, and he placed the triangle within the rectangle of his camera’s frame, adding the third element of geometry, the circle, by placing the sun right at the edge of the triangle, so that the sun appears to be rolling down the side of the roof. Turner’s title, “Rolling Ball” of course completes the illusion. When Turner returned to the US, his Rolling Ball became part of the George Eastman Kodak collection. It made Turner famous, and he went on to shoot more amazing pictures in a long career with National Geographic. Pete Turner wrote an amazing book titled Pete Turner - African Journey, containing photos he shot on his African Journey. My claim to fame is that I have also done a similar drive across Africa like Turner, not once, but three times. Unfortunately, the quality of my photos will never be like his. Striving to be a better photographer, and studying the work of past masters, I believe, is what keeps us shooting. Click this link digitalartist.my/?q=more-about-me to check out my own unabashed copycat version - Yusuf Hashim – African Journey, a book I wrote about my own drives across Africa in 2003, 2004, 2008 and 2011. The flysheet of the book is photo #4. Published online and printed on demand.
Posted on: Mon, 04 Aug 2014 15:02:35 +0000
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015