* Wednesday C&C "No Theme" Thread #929 / Revived #149 on 2026 02 04 *

Welcome to the Wednesday Comments and Critique (No Theme & No Brand) thread!

We are dedicated to continuing the great tradition of this C&C thread because we are convinced that looking at, and talking about images is vital for better photography.

Our tried and tested concept (almost 17 years and running!) is a weekly "peer-to-peer" photo comments & critique encounter, in which you GIVE and RECEIVE.

The idea is simple: you post a photo or photo-based image that you have made and get critique on it. And in return you give other people your honest but constructive opinion of their images.

Any Theme, Any Camera, Any Style, Any Subject.

We are still figuring out how to create the convenience of threaded view on this new forum.
For now, let us agree that you post an image or essay with a title and short explanation, and that all comments include the image as a quote.
Replies to comments may or may not include quotes.

THREAD GUIDELINES – THE SHORT & SWEET VERSION
• This thread does not care about brands. It’s not about the tool, but the image.
• Post one image or essay that you have made and would like to get comments on.
An entry can either be a single image or a short essay. With an essay we mean not a collection of random images without any connection, seeking C&C on more than one of them. We mean instead a limited number (3 to 10) of connected images that together try to tell a story, create a fuller picture of a situation, event or location, etc.
• Add a clear title to your post to distinguish your entry.
• Look at the other images/essays and give your comments on at least one of those.
• For comments, try to go beyond a simple pat on the back or a short dismissal.
• Do you like an image (or essay) ? Try to explain WHY it appeals to you.
• Negative or critical feedback is OK (we all want to learn), but be polite and constructive. Try to explain why the image (or essay) does not appeal to you and how it might be improved.
• Please stay on topic, i.e. concentrate on the image and the photographic comments, without getting into politics or other distractions. No non-photographic arguments.

The critique you give is vital.
What was your first impression? What catches your eye about an image? Why?
What do you like, and what distracts you? What would you change?

Fiddle with the image in your head - composition, perspective, color balance, exposure.

PLEASE NOTE CLEARLY:
Unless the original poster specifically states (for every individual posting offered for C&C) that they do not want their image(s) to be downloaded, altered or reposted, it is understood that within the context of this thread, other participants are free to download and alter the posted image and repost it in a reply for C&C purposes. That reposted image may remain permanently within the week's thread, or you may remove it after a short period of time if you prefer. The downloaded and altered images are not to be used for any other purposes nor uploaded anywhere else than within the context of the C&C in this thread. No copyright disputes here!

Encourage - it is a scary business putting your work up for other people to judge!

More general feedback is also welcome.
Do you know something about taking the same sort of image that would make matters easier - share your own as an example in your reply.

Have fun, be respectful and let’s stick together!

KINGDOM OF HEAVEN

On the last three-nights leg of our Moroccan trip last month, we stayed in Ouarzazate, which is a lovely 5 hour drive southeast of Marrakech.
On those days we went to the Oasis of Skoura and its kasbahs, of which I shared an image two weeks ago.

But we also visited the fortified walls and battlements of Jerusalem and the grand entrance to the fortress of Kerak while we were there.

Let me explain.

Ouarzazate is home to the Atlas Studios, one of the biggest studio complexes in the world.

Already in the middle of last century, big budget films produced by production companies of many different nationalities, descended on Ouarzazate for its proximity to arid desert and rocks, snow-capped mountains in the distance and lush oases (and the ancient kasbahs) in the region, for any movie set in such landscapes.
Small studio lots were created for indoor scenes, first in the center of the city. You can visit now one of those places as the "Cinema Museum": it is a collection of rooms and courtyards that can serve as Roman, Greek, Egyptian, Arab and many other interiors (including throne rooms, markets and dungeons), all filled with dusty and rather silly looking props and costumes - and a collection of ancient moviemaking tools like editing tables, dollys, etc. It is a quaint little stop.

Outside the town there is now a large new studio complex that is not open to visitors.

Inbetween sit the Atlas Studios.

• This is partly still operational for certain productions (one area was non-accessible because a movie was starting production).
• Partly it is a museum/theme park (with plush hotel) where you can roam freely or get a nice guided tour through sets from a few blockbusters, mainly set in Egypt ("The Mummy", but also "Astérix & Obelix - Mission Cleopatra"), but also in Arab fairly tale environments ("Sindbad", "Prince of Persia") and even in Tibet ("Kundun", because filming the story of a Dalai Lama in the actual location did not sit well with Chinese authorities). The place has been home to a large number of biblical epic tales for movie and TV. That was really good fun.

But for me the biggest "wow" came from visiting another site that requires a (not too expensive) extra ticket and for which being by car is useful, because it is a specific set, further in the desert towards the mountains, at the end of a rocky, sandy and bumpy offroad ride of an estimated 3 or 4 kilometers. We were the only visitors there on the day. We parked our car in the shadow of large medieval walls and showed our ticket to the gatekeeper who was clearly happy to see the monotony of his day broken up by visitors (he sits all day during opening hours in a small guard shack with a television, and with his motorcycle parked next to the shack - I bet he gets more visitors on other days).

This huge construction was built specifically for the Ridley Scott blockbuster "Kingdom of Heaven" (with Orlando Bloom, Eva Green, Edward Norton, Liam Neeson, David Thewliss, Jeremy Irons, Brednan Gleeson and many others) The movie tells a tale of redemption, tolerance and humanity against the backdrop of the early Crusades, when Christians and muslims fought over Jerusalem and its holy sites, waging wars "over insults that we did not make, against people who are not alive anymore to avenge them".

It's a fairly good movie : history (reasonably accurate if romanticized) under the usual Ridley Scott sauce of epic battles, lots of smoke and dust, countless horses and flags in a strong gale. It's entertaining, but in this case with a strong message too.

Here is a trailer:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=KartNo8EDWY

And here is a breakdown of a pivotal scene (not battle, but communication and respect - it captures the atmosphere and spirit of the movie well):
www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFaUdNMjXt8

But back to the building and the site in general.

After the production, these same structures (or parts thereof) were reused in many other productions, but nothing anymore of the same scale.

The movie "Kingdom of Heaven" is 21 years old by now, but its set has stood the test of time remarkably well. I say "remarkably" because this set is not made of stone (only all the floors are), but consists of a gigantic maze of scaffolding, different plastics (like rocks and mountains in Disneyland) all painted and plastered and weathered and textured with great care. You can take steps up the battlements and enter the towers to take a gangway to the opposite side, and inside the tower you will be in a structure of steel piping and scaffolding, with rickety stairs and ladders leading up and down. That is a weird experience, and it is almost unbelievable, if you really breathe in the scale of this movie set.

Most of it is now bare walls and floors and ceilings (for a movie, it needs extras, dust, water and huge amounts of props to come alive).
But some parts that have been used close up in battle scenes, are intricately detailed with fine woodwork and wrought iron.
There are also long arched halls and gangways that have been used for skirmishes and intimate scenes, and allow for depth and mood lighting.

The overall impression is gigantic, on a scale that has to be seen to be believed.

Here are four images that try to capture some of that.

• The first shows an enormous ramp leading up to the interior entrance of a fortress (not Jerusalem in the movie, but the Templars' fortress at Kerak). You can tell from the shadow that this is already inside a first line of walls.
• The second shows some of the detail and texture of the construction, with a wooden shelter on the battlements. In the distance: you can spot a trebuchet that was used in a scene of the siege of Jerusalem, with the Atlas Mountains as farther backdrop..
• The third is a view from those same battlements over two courtyards with multi purpose buildings: a marketplace/washing basin in the first courtyard, and a vaulted chapel in the next, with battlements and defensive structures surrounding them.
• The fourth image is taken from the highest point I could climb to (through that scaffolding interior, over those rickety ladders). This is from the very top of the highest tower seen in the third image, and looking back in the other direction, with in the distance again the Atlas Mountains and below a medium sized arena/fighting pit not used in "Kingdom of Heaven" but in one of the "Gladiator" movies. (Ridley Scott is a frequent user of the studio...)

To get a sense of scale: Els is in the first and the fourth image. I almost needed binoculars to see her...

Rooster. Hanoi.

A gloomy submission of Dam Ice

Here's what it looks like when temps remain in the teens for several consecutive days, a real oddity here. The edges of the rivers and lakes do freeze. It was gloomy on this frozen morning a couple of days ago. Only a few weary and unmotivated birds showed up beneath the dam and down the Pearl. But the dam itself had some interesting patterns (to me, since I see it all the time and notice small differences). Probably not so much for a viewer.

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Reflections on a rainy day