I hear and I forget, I do and I understand, I see and I remember
Images
A look at the nomadic lifestyle in Arabia
I am honored to have my work about the Bedu of Arabia featured in the current issue of ETHMED online magazine. The values of this traditional and ancient way of life have persisted for over five thousand years and have adapted to modern life in the 21st century.
It was one of the highest honors of my life to be accepted by the clans of the Al Amrah and Al Erq of the Al Murrah tribes to live with them and document their way of life. From 1980 to the present I continue to maintain a relationship with the clans and learn so much about respect, honor, relationships, loyalty, survival, and adaptation a few of the values that define nomadic life among the Bedu of Arabia.
Gathering at the wedding of Mohammed Alerq. Social protocol demands that everyone sit in a circle. Dahna Sands, Saudi Arabia
Faisal Mohammed Alamrah, playing soccer in the desert of eastern Saudi Arabia
1,000 to 1 were the odds given to the Saudi soccer team to win, particularly against the powerhouse team from Argentina led by superstar Lionel Messi. The victory on Tuesday by the Saudi team over Argentina is being described as “one that ranks as one of the greatest shocks in the tournament’s 92-year history…unlike the World Cup’s traditional powers, it does not call on stars from major leagues of Western Europe to join its squad. Its players are drawn instead from the country’s lightly regarded, but well-supported, domestic league.” Rory Smith, The New York Times, Nov. 22, 2022.
I made these images in 1983 of Bedu boys of the Al Amrah clan of the Al Murrah tribe playing in the desert in Al-Ahsa, the eastern region of Saudi Arabia.
Bedu boys of the Al Amrah clan playing soccer in the desert of Al-Ahsa, Saudi Arabia Al Amrah boys play soccer in the eastern province of Saudi Arabia.Hamad Nasser Alamrah in the green sport suit, playing soccer at the Alamrah camp in the eastern region of Saudi Arabia.
As a documentary photographer, the success of the Saudi soccer team this week was gratifying. While living with the Al Amrah in the desert in Saudi Arabia I observed a strong human spirit and passion in the members of the clan. I have seen how the young boys and girls that I photographed in the 1980s have gone on to achieve academic and business success.
The spirit I saw among these young people in the desert in the 1980s was once again shown in the skill and desire of the Saudi players who defeated Argentina a powerhouse of a soccer team at the Lusail stadium, in Qatar this week.
Images like these help build a bridge from modernity to the roots of a culture.
Pathway to the Bay, Sarsota, Florida Black and White image made with the iPhone Camera Shadow of tree at the end of day on a wallClose-up with the iPhone Camera of Dendrocalamus bamboo, the largest bamboo in the world. Close-up of Schefflera “umbrella tree” in the rain. Studio still-life, PlumcotStudio still-life, Callla LilyDeveloping strom, Sarasota, Florida. Photo made with iPhone CameraFeather Cloud, Sarasota, Florida Unexpected image within an image of a cloud formation. Photo made with iPhone-Camera Black & White image made with the iPhone Camera of window dressing, Sarasota, Florida
Learn to master your iPhone Camera. Two places left for the upcoming iPhone Camera course: Sept. 10, 12, 17 & 19.
10 am til noon. The fee is $175 for four classes. To reserve your place contact me at WayneEastep@gmail.com
*All images shown here were made with the iPhone Camera.
Sunflower, Van GoghJug, Curtain and Fruit Bowl Paul CezanneBasket of Fruit CaravaggioStill Life with a Pewter Jug and Pink Statuette Henri Matisse
When you think of still-life do images like these come to mind? They are examples of a way of thinking about still-life that has been with us since the 16th century.
Would you like to explore a reimagined way of using still-life to tell a story, get inside the core of a subject, and create images with your Smartphone? Like master painters, learn how to use light, shadow, perspective, shape and contour, space, and composition.
Recently I led a workshop reimagining still-life as a way of journaling and storytelling. Tim and Lisa, students in the workshop discovered they could create images on a card table using inexpensive lighting bought at the hardware store.
Watermelon, Tim Sweeney
Peppers, Lisa King
Wood Tools with Glass Balls, Lisa King
Journaling, Tim Sweeney
Reflections on the Silk Road, Wayne Eastep
Lisa King and Tim Sweeney during the Still-Life Photography Reimagined Workshop
DIY lighting for studio still-life. Items were bought at the hardware store for around $100.
To learn about upcoming workshops contact me at: WayneEastep@Gmail.com
What it looks like to replace Russian oil and gas.
Internal view of a furnace used to “crack” heat crude oil in the refining process.
Turning away from the use of oil and gas from Russia can be accomplished. What is needed includes; finding other supply sources, building new receiving ports, retrofitting existing refineries, expanding production, marshaling major engineering capacity, major capital investment, and time. Putting in place what is needed cannot happen in a few months. It will take a year for the quick changes and a number of years for a major realignment.
Understanding the petroleum industry by reading about it with all its unique jargon: “upstream-downstream,” Fluid Catalytic Cracking, Floating Production Storage and Offloading, Crude Assay, Sweet and Sour Crude Oil, etc., quickly becomes confusing.
Images offer the possibility of getting our minds around what these words mean and how the energy industry works. So I’ve compiled a set of pictures showing what’s involved in the supply chain of oil and gas worldwide in order to understand what the challenges and costs are in creating an alternative to dependence on Russian oil and gas.
Finding the oil and gas.
Locating sources of oil and gas is an industry unto itself and requires significant investment, risk, and commitment of time.
A geologist working on exploration of oil and gas, KuwaitSonar imaging of oil sources, Gulf of Mexico
Crude Oil Exploration
More often than not, places, where crude oil is found, are deserts and oceans. Advanced technology today helps reduce some of the risks by quantifying possible amounts of oil and gas at specific locations. The exploration process still comes down to drilling a hole in the earth, often thousands of feet, to reach a crude oil or natural gas source. The drilling rigs on land and offshore are an industry unto themselves and include names like Schlumberger, Valaris, Halliburton, Baker Hughes, Nabors, China Oilfield Services Limited, and Petrofac, to name a few.
Crude Oil Drilling Rig, KuwaitDrilling rigs North Sea, Scotland Offshore drilling rig, Gulf of Mexico
Roughnecks, Louisiana
Roughnecks, on land drilling rig, KazakhstanCrude oil pump, Saudi Arabia Offshore drilling rig, Persian Gulf Offshore crude oil drilling rig being built for exploration in the Caspian Sea, Baku, Azerbaijan.
All in One Operations
Then there are “all in one” exploration drilling, processing, and shipping operations like the Tension leg platform, Floating Production Storage, and Offloading operation at Kizomba, Angola. Basically, these operations drill for crude oil, process it onsite then load it onto supertankers at the offshore location. Off the supertanker goes to deliver oil to a client.
Drilling rig on the left, Floating Production Storage for processing crude oil and a supertanker being filled up. Kizomba, Angola.
Shipping and Storage
Crude oil must be moved from its source to refineries where it can be processed into usable products like gasoline and diesel.
Supertanker offshore waiting to unload crude oil at a refinery in Kuwait for processing into petroleum products.
Storage operation in Saint Lucia for unloading some of the largest supertankers which require deepwater ports. The crude oil is stored, then transferred to ships that can enter the port at a refinery in St. Croix.
Tankers offloading crude oil and loading refined petroleum products at a refinery in St. Croix, US Virgin Islands.
Processing crude oil into petroleum products; gas and diesel.
Turning crude oil into usable products like gasoline and diesel fuel is done at refineries like this one in St. Croix.
Construction of an LNG Train for converting natural gas into Liquefied Natural Gas, Ras Laffan, Qatar.
LNG refinery: Ras Laffan, Qatar. The plant converts natural gas into Liquified Natural Gas called LNG. The process uses three steps, gas treatment, gas compression, and refrigeration. LNG from Qatar could possibly become a source for Europe to replace the LNG they import from Russia.
An LNG pipeline connecting the Ras Laffan refinery to the port where special ships for transporting LNG take the gas and deliver it to customers worldwide. The LNG port at Ras Laffan, Qatar. A tanker designed specifically for transporting liquified natural gas.
Trains and Pipelines
Other methods used to transport crude oil and petroleum products include trains and pipelines.
Rail tanks are used to transport crude oil and processed petroleum products. Sarpom shipping yard, Trecate, Italy.
A train transporting gas from the Tengiz Refinery in Kazakhstan.
Oil Pipeline, northeastern Saudi Arabia near the Iraqi border
Crude oil pipeline, Kuwait.
A primary source of fact and insight about world energy can be found in the writings of Dr. Daniel Yergin, who is an American energy expert, economic historian, speaker, author, and Pulitzer Prize, winner. His most recent book, The New Map, is a timely read about geopolitics, the global economy, and energy. To learn more visit https://www.DanielYergin.com
Balancing energy needs for the short term and long term
Before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the world was engaged in an existential struggle: how to deal with the accelerating negative impact of climate change. Countries are still in a struggle with each other about how best to shift from fossil fuels to clean, sustainable energy. The urgency to find alternatives to oil and gas from Russia must simultaneously be met with concrete actions by countries worldwide to respond to climate change. The world order is under threat as a result of Russia’s war, and the catastrophic effects of climate change threaten life in our home, the earth. The challenge is whether we choose law over force to respond to Russia’s invasion. We also have a challenge of consciousness. Can we acknowledge our interdependence and work for the common good?
Electricity Solar Water Wind
Text and Images by Wayne Eastep
To see more images visit the energy collection at my website WayneEastep.com
The moon sits like a silent eye in the sky observing the earth.
Its phases serve as markers of time.
The lunar eclipse reminds us in dramatic and beautiful ways that there are three of us sharing the heavens; the sun, moon, and earth.
The physical phases of the moon; new, full, waxing, waning, bright, dark, rising, and sitting all serve as visual poetry about life as seen in the cycles of the moon. The reappearance of the moon every night is a reminder about the passage of time and while each day things change there is reassurance in the constancy of the moon.
Partial Lunar Eclipse of the Full Moon November 19, 2021, as seen from Sarasota, Florida, rendered in Black and White. “Blood Moon” of the Partial Lunar Eclipse November 19, 2021Full Moon November 19, 2021 also known as the “beaver moon” and “blood moon”. Observed from Sarasota, Florida.
“The Moon is a white strange world, great, white, soft-seeming globe in the night sky, and what she actually communicates to me across space I shall never fully know. But the Moon that pulls the tides, and the Moon that controls the menstrual periods of women, and the Moon that touches the lunatics, she is not the mere dead lump of the astronomist…. When we describe the Moon as dead, we are describing the deadness in ourselves. When we find space so hideously void, we are describing our own unbearable emptiness.” D.H. Lawrence, Phoenix: The Posthumous Papers of D.H. Lawrence. pt.4, 1930
Phases of the full moon during a partial lunar eclipse November 19, 2021.
To discuss your needs for sizes, materials and framing contact me at: WayneEastep@gmail.com.
You can select configurations and see the framed print within various rooms at my online storefront: Eastep store
See a full selection of images from this series on my website: WayneEastep.com
“Blood Moon” during the partial lunar eclipse. Partial lunar eclipse, black and white print.
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