Mada’in Saleh, the historical site of a Nabatean trading center, northern Saudi Arabia

Photography has reached a strange place when I have to explain that “yes, that was the true color” and NO I did not create this in Photoshop, yikes!

The place I made this picture is Mada’in Saleh the historical site of a Nabatean trading center in north-west Saudi Arabia.  These folks were part of a group whose capital was Petra in modern-day Jordan.  It is also the place the Ottomans had a railroad depot which T.E. Lawrence destroyed.  It is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

I made this image as part of a  feature story of archeology  for Smithsonian magazine. There are two reasons the color is other worldly.  The first is the light in Arabia gets this way sometimes, that’s all I know.  The second reason is I used a rare film Kodachrome Photomicrography which had insane saturation and detail.  The ASA is 16.  I did not add any color, the film simply  recorded everything that was there.

To see more images from this story visit Eastep Image Archive @ www.EastepPhotography.com