NOVEMBER 2004 – The setting sun illuminates the waterfront of El Gouna in Egypt. © Mark Zanzig/zanzig.com
The story behind the image
El Gouna in Egypt is a beautiful village situated at the Red Sea. If offers all the amenities you’d be expecting from a village that successfully managed to turn itself into a truly popular tourist destination. If only the village wouldn’t be entirely artifical. Well, it was back in 2004 when we visited the place.
Yes, this place had been just desert before the development started in the 1980s. (Wikipedia has more information.)
But I think the planners, construction companies and workers have done a terrific job, avoiding the terrible mistakes of other popular tourist destinations (like some coastal areas in Spain or Italy) and created an authentic atmosphere that matches the tourists’ expectations. Artificial? Yes. Attractive? Absolutely!
I shot this image about 20 minutes before sunset – which comes early in November – at one of the many artificial arms of the lagoon, and I love the contrast of the warm sunlight and the dark shadows on the houses.
The shot is admittedly very, very small (just a whopping 2.6 megapixels.)
Heck, I like it anyway.
Design ideas
The high resolution image
| Capture Date | 24-NOV-2004, 16:29 |
| Location | El Gouna, Egypt |
| Camera | Sony DSC-P72 |
| Lens | Built-in |
| ISO | 100 |
| Exposure | 1/160 sec at f/5.6 |
| Digital Image Source Format | JPEG, 24 bits/pixel, sRGB |
| Edited Image Format | JPEG, 24 bits/pixel, sRGB |
| Edited Image Dimensions | 1536 x 1710 Pixels |
| Copyright | © by Mark Zanzig/zanzig.com |
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