Orion Over Oasis

Surrounded by date palms clustered around fresh water pool in the middle of desert. Zarrin mud-brick village is an oasis located on the northern edge of the Rig-e Zarrin desert in Iran. Zarrin (meaning “Golden” in Persian Language) is one of so few human settlements in central desert Dasht-e Kavir in Iran which has many potential surprises and things to do near Yazd. About 100 km head to the east from Ardakan Yazd road to Bayazeh, you can reach the Zarrin village. It’s located under a very dark sky and excellent for stargazing with scenic landscape of golden mountains, palm date trees and ruins of old mud brick houses and a castle. A stunning town without any resident but the gardens managed by Mr. Mohammad Zarrini who put his effort to turn this place to an eco-village.

So this village is a private place that need a call in advance. A failed railway to Chadormalu Iron Mine had constructed many years a go and divide the village in two then half of the village and some water springs went dry.

the second railway and tunnels make the second water spring dry and now that garden only has an small water reservoir. Near the village headed to East there is the huge sand dunes of Zarrin Dessert and a Gold Mine is around the village which has an ancient story to tell. A Lot of Geo tourism Attractions is located near the town.

The Date Palm tree is very amazing! It has a brain and he grows up like a human, he falls in love and mates and he has a sexual organ, he has hair and his teeth fall out when he grows old. In indigenous beliefs it is like a human. If it drowns in the water, it will die and when the farmer wants to cut it down, they say “kill the tree”. Its unit of counting is similar to the unit of human counting in Persian language and is considered as the bride’s dowry.

It feels everything. if it does not fertilize, the farmer hangs an ax around his “partner’s neck” and threatens, and maybe you aren’t believe, it works! Unlike other trees that are more fertile by cutting off the head, in the palm tree, it dies if the head is cut off. Like the culture, if anybody is strong and rooted in history, but today’s appearance is defective in society, it is considered as a death.

I captured this photo when the moon was at 20% phase. There was a cold breeze and Date Palm trees rustled slowly close to the ruins of adobe houses. This is my trilogy of Orion over the oasis and I used the 3 types of shooting: Normal, Star Lens Filter, Diffuser Lens Filter

Technical details:

Single Exposure

ISO 4000

16-35 @21 mm Canon lens

f/2.8

15.00 secs

Canon 6D Modified Camera