In 2013, we visited Egypt, first touring Cairo before cruising down the Nile River to Aswan, making stops and excursions to observe ancient sites. Today’s Photo 101 theme is to “play with scale … use anything and everything to help convey size in your image.” Three images from that trip are shown in this post, each using humans to suggest the enormity of objects from that earlier time.
This photo was taken at Abu Simbel in Nubia, Egypt. This is one of two temples at this site; it was built for the goddess Hathor and for Nefertari, the favorite wife of Rameses II. Of the six statues, two are Nefertari and four are Rameses II. These statues are each about 10 meters tall.
This photo is of the Colossi of Memnon, which are two massive seated stone statues of the Pharoh Amenhotep III, located in the Theban necropolis, west of the Nile River from Luxor. These statues are approximately 3400 years old. Including the stone platforms (about 4 meters high) beneath their feet, they are 18 meters high and stand 15 meters apart.
This photo shows (what is believed to be) the largest obelisk ever discovered, located in a stone quarry in Aswan, Egypt. Hatshepsut, one of the most successful Egyptian pharaohs, ordered this obelisk to be made. Fractures appeared in the obelisk as it was being carved from a single rock, and so it was abandoned. Had it been completed, it would have stood 42 meters tall.
iball round the world 