Dust Storm over Ulaanbaatar

This is my contribution to the World Desertification Day (June 17).

Thanks for comments and rating. Karl

Superb and detailed shot. I like this one best of the two, it gives me a greater sense of proportion of the storm. You were on the outside looking in, I was on the inside looking out, just before sunset. I'd rather have been where you were! Regards, erik

Thanks Eric for your comment. Seeing the result, I agree that I was at the right time at the right place. But it was not for free. Due to the children's day and a state visit it took us from six to half past ten to go there and come back. And we got our share of dust and storm.

I shot these photos seconds before sunset with the last sunrays coming in from the left side. I processed the frames in the raw format with +1 colour saturation. My intention with these photos is to attract the attention of the observer with romantic colours before he discovers the shocking dust cloud ravaging through the centre of the town.  Karl

At first this reminded me of one of the mid to late 19th century landscape paintings and was attracted by the beautiful pastel colouring.

It was only on closer inspection I was made aware of the dramatic forces of nature at work and yet was equally beautiful even in the devastation it was unleashing. 

Hugh

Excellent capture Karl! The timing, composition and details are just stunning in this beautiful shot.Bravo!7/7

Best regards Sadegh

Dear Hugh and Sadegh, I appreciate your encouraging comments.

Dear Sumon, Shawn and Radu,

thank you very much for your comments on the second version of this photo. In the meantime I have made some improvement on this photo and deleted the other version. I hope you see the improvement and like the result.

Kind regards. Karl

Really beautiful work with very nice lighting, Karl!

Awesome scenery, stunning light indeed right time- right place. And well captured of course. BTW, is the 5DII weather sealed :-)

Dear Carsten, the Camera is just a working tool which has to do its job. The most exciting moments are often when the gentlemen (and -women) photographers go home.

In May, climbing the sand dunes of the Gobi desert in a heavy sand storm mixed with rain, I experienced the limits of the camera (and mines as well, but who cares about me?  ;-().

No, the 5D Mark II it is not all-weather sealed! After the sand dunes it took me two days playing gently with all the 15 buttons of the camera to get them back to work again. During that time I could not change the settings nor watch the photos. But I could continue shooting, while the L zoom lens was screaming heartbreakingly.

I had in mind to upload some photos from that adventure but after having seen Marc Adamus's last sand dunes I think it is not worth.

Fantastic atmospheric conditions!

Karl, this version is really fantastic. Best regards.

A superb shot Karl which must be viewed larger to get the full impact of this delightful scene