Towards the end of Pakistan - New photos added

Awais Yaqub

or the beginning..
Each year i try to do at least one trip to somewhere which satisfies the photography craving! This year i finally got chance to see the forbidden place, the mighty Baluchistan, 4th and final province of Pakistan. Baluchistan, where writ of government is challenged on daily basis, however the Makran belt along coastal highway is very peaceful and carries haunting feeling of vastness. We traveled down to Iranian border in Jiwani, the last end of Pakistan. It was an amazing experience, landscape clearly shows signs burial under the sea long time ago, amazing sculptures carved by the power of wind, a remote hindu temples of Hinghlaj or Nani Mandir a sacred religious place for followers of Hinduism, in calmness of mandir we met rare Ibex goat playing in vastness of Baluchistan it gave true feeling of freedom, however the joy of trip drained quickly when i reached the last stop, the Gadani Ship breaking yard, largest ship breaking yard in the world, tough working conditions of labour and lack of safety measures held me back and i wanted to reach home sooner.

Before traveling to Baluchistan, we stopped briefly in Sindh and stayed in Mithi. I have shared Sindh trip last year you can see in Gallery on my page here. Here are few new perspectives from Sindh, you have to come back next week to see photos from Baluchistan, which are in process

our route:

1 Man carrying CharPai (a traditional bed found across subcontinent) as he see me in the field

2: When there is a man with camera everyone loves to pose for him

3: Public transport in Mithi

4:

5: Off to work

6: More support to photographer

7: Inside village hut

8:

9: Women in field, mostly woman in region are working

10: Field worker

11: Posing with tree

12: Making of Ajrak in small scale industry, Ajrak shawl is symbol of Sindh!

14

15

16

17: Hyderabad's Bangle market

18

19:
Shah Jahan's mosque in Thatta

20:

21: Makli Necropolis

Next Stop Baluchistan.....

denisegoldberg

I'm looking forward to Baluchistan after seeing the wonderful photos that you have already posted. My favorites are 1, 17, and 20, with 20 taking the prize (for me). I love the depth and the play of light.

ChrisJ

Beautiful work, Awais. I love these!

sarasphotos

As usual Awais, stunning work. I especially love your portraits. #4 and #10 are my favorites.

Awais Yaqub

@sarasphotos said:
As usual Awais, stunning work. I especially love your portraits. #4 and #10 are my favorites.

@ChrisJ said:
Beautiful work, Awais. I love these!

@denisegoldberg said:
I'm looking forward to Baluchistan after seeing the wonderful photos that you have already posted. My favorites are 1, 17, and 20, with 20 taking the prize (for me). I love the depth and the play of light.

Thanks friends! i will post next batch tomorrow

Awais Yaqub

Entering the Makran region what i noticed was wilderness, true feelings of peace, unintentionally we were keeping our voice low as if we were creating disturbance. We would rarely see any human being, which made it difficult to show the scale of the area.

1: Portrait of Mountain

2: Finally saw someone riding on bike to work early in morning, the road leads to Hinghlaj Mandir, a sacred ancient Hindu Monument

3: Upon reaching Hinghlaj Mandir, we witnessed rare Sindh Ibex Goat playing in wild

4: Sindh Ibex is tough Terrain goat, it would jump around in narrow steep spaces

5:

6: Huge textures on mountains

7: Yogi of Highlaj Mandir allowed to take photo inside Mandir, there were several Mandirs spread in natural caves, however photographs were not allowed

8: Servant of Mandir

9: Typical village

10: Cafe helper served us tasty food, despite no internet, electricity, and mobile network he asked for facebook ID to share his photo, now i am waiting for his friend request

11: Ancient graves of soldiers of Muhammad Bin Qasim's army, who battled with Raja of Sindh. Graves were located on small hill, authenticity of claim is unknown.

12: Typical Makrani face

13: Makran Coastal highway, a trade route between Iran and Pakistan

14: Birds eye view of Gwadar city from Koh-e-Batil, a hill protecting the region from ancient warriors.

15: Man walks upto Koh-e-Batil, stairs were made to protect people from Tsunami threat

16: I was visually treat on way down the Hill

Next i stopped in ship making yard, had some chat with locals shot a sunset and got ready for next day... last episode next week.

sarasphotos

Once again a fascinating set! Thanks so much for taking me to places I'll most likely never be able to visit. The textures of the mountains are fantastic.

Awais Yaqub

@sarasphotos said:
Once again a fascinating set! Thanks so much for taking me to places I'll most likely never be able to visit. The textures of the mountains are fantastic.

Thanks a lot Sara!

denisegoldberg

Another wonderful set Awais! I think my favorites are 1, 2, and 9.

Awais Yaqub

@denisegoldberg said:
Another wonderful set Awais! I think my favorites are 1, 2, and 9.

Thanks Denise glad you liked them!

ziggy53

Ah Awais, viewing your images is such a lush and visceral experience. Your sense of composition and timing is matched by your processing skills and provides the viewer with a true sense of having "been there".

Gorgeous and unpretentious; what great photographers should aspire to achieve!

Bravo, no ... bravissimo!!

roaddog52

Absolutely stunning images! I'm a huge fan of your work, and always keeping a lookout for your latest postings. I agree with ziggy 100%

Phil

Awais Yaqub

@roaddog52 said:
Absolutely stunning images! I'm a huge fan of your work, and always keeping a lookout for your latest postings. I agree with ziggy 100%

Phil

@ziggy53 said:
Ah Awais, viewing your images is such a lush and visceral experience. Your sense of composition and timing is matched by your processing skills and provides the viewer with a true sense of having "been there".

Gorgeous and unpretentious; what great photographers should aspire to achieve!

Bravo, no ... bravissimo!!

Thanks a lot guys, your comments shot my motivation level up in the sky!!

Richard

Outstanding work, Awais. It's hard to pick out favorites but if I were forced to choose it would be 20 in the first set and 9 in the second. Bravo indeed!

stella82

Awais these are really stunning. Wow. Like all the above, it really is fairly hard to choose a favourite, but #12 #15 and #21 in the first set are really breathtaking for me.
They make me want to go travelling ASAP!

Awais Yaqub

@stella82 said:
Awais these are really stunning. Wow. Like all the above, it's fairly hard to choose a favourite but #12 #15 and #21 in the first set are really breathtaking for me.
They make me want to go travelling ASAP!

Thanks Stella glad you liked them, it was my long time dream to visit these places.

Awais Yaqub

Last batch of photos start

Here are photos from where i left my second post:
1: Decided to do sunset at ship making yard

2: Boat contractor

3

4: Sun goes down quickly!

5: Old man became our guide

6: Star Navigator, Fisherman waits for high tide so his boat could start sailing

7: Milestone on way to Iranian Border

8: Pakistani soldier on deserted Iranian Border

9: In small town of Jiwani near Iranian border

10:

11: Sunrise

Our next stop was Gadani, the largest or 2nd largest ship breaking yard of world.
12: Coastal highway is surrounded by landscape sculpted by the power of wind, here is natural version of Sphinx

13: they named ist Princes of hope

Gadani is place of tough work condition, recently some laborers lost their lives due to fire and unsafe work conditions, we were not welcomed there. We were alerted about the dangers involved in roaming around, had to take few photos before we were kicked out of ship breaking yard. It was a heart wrenching experience, i was approached by laborer who lamented about work conditions and tough work, telling me that a lot of photographers visit us but our life has not changed.
14: Break time

15: Huge ships disappears in one month

16: The last shot and my fav of trip

Hope you enjoyed these

denisegoldberg

@Awais Yaqub said:

Here are photos from where i left my second post:

15: Huge ships disappears in one month

16: The last shot and my fav of trip

Another great set! My favorites are the last two, with a strong preference for 15.

Awais Yaqub

@denisegoldberg said:

@Awais Yaqub said:

Here are photos from where i left my second post:

15: Huge ships disappears in one month

16: The last shot and my fav of trip

Another great set! My favorites are the last two, with a strong preference for 15.

Thanks Denise!

torags

Stunners all...

What a treasure trove of photo opportunity well captured...

The textures in #9 are mind boggling

Excellent work Awais

Awais Yaqub

@torags said:
Stunners all...

What a treasure trove of photo opportunity well captured...

The textures in #9 are mind boggling

Excellent work Awais

Thanks my friend, glad you liked them!

Juano

Extraordinary! I have always admired your work, well done.

Awais Yaqub

@Juano said:
Extraordinary! I have always admired your work, well done.

Thanks a lot @Juano

Hathingthe

Absolutely incredible! Thanks for sharing them all :)
May I ask if it is allowed to take pictures inside of a mosque?

Howard Barlow

As usual, Awais, your work is impressive. I think your ability at selecting subject matter is extraordinary.

What are they doing with the shawls in #12 and #14? Looks kind of like they are spreading dirt on them. I'm sure it' something else, though.

Awais Yaqub

@Hathingthe said:
Absolutely incredible! Thanks for sharing them all

May I ask if it is allowed to take pictures inside of a mosque?

Thanks! yes usually no issue in Pakistan. Few mosque may restrict tripods or require permission to shoot a full photo/video project.

@Howard Barlow said:
As usual, Awais, your work is impressive. I think your ability at selecting subject matter is extraordinary.

What are they doing with the shawls in #12 and #14? Looks kind of like they are spreading dirt on them. I'm sure it' something else, though.

Thanks a lot Howard, its camel dung all over the place and sprinkled over shawls to make the color permanent

Howard Barlow

What are they doing with the shawls in #12 and #14? Looks kind of like they are spreading dirt on them. I'm sure it' something else, though.

Thanks a lot Howard, its camel dung all over the place and sprinkled over shawls to make the color permanent

Interesting. Thanks.

Awais Yaqub

torags

This is a great series Awais...

I really love your work... the sensitivity shown to textural composition is extraordinary among your other skills...

Selection and isolation of subjects compliment your good eye

Thanks for posting, it was enjoyable

Awais Yaqub

Awais Yaqub

@torags said:
This is a great series Awais...

I really love your work... the sensitivity shown to textural composition is extraordinary among your other skills...

Selection and isolation of subjects compliment your good eye

Thanks for posting, it was enjoyable

Thanks a lot. i am glad you enjoyed the series.