Chez Moncef

Heinz Maier starting shooting less than a year ago, yet he’s already mastered the art of water drop photography. Check out his Splashes set on Flickr for more oohs and aahs.

Speaking of NASA, here’s a beautiful photo of 5 of Saturn’s moons, captured from the Cassini spacecraft on July 29, 2011.

Windsor Skyway by sirpecangum

One of 9 superb photos in the plane trails Flickr gallery, curated by uncommon.

Earlier this month, Joanna and I were traveling in Morocco for about 3 weeks, which explains the lack of posts on this site over the past month. We were a core group of seven, including my middle brother (who organized the trip) and his girlfriend, Shawn Feeney, and another couple. My youngest brother and his girlfriend also joined us for some portions of the trip.

Despite our short time frame, we covered many essential and diverse regions, but our itinerary was not the most logical because we had to plan around my cousin’s wedding in Marrakech. Here’s a quick overview:

• Meet in Casablanca, chill and eat in style at my parents’ house.
• Spend 2 nights in Essaouira to attend the Gnaoua Music Festival.
• Return to Casa to spend the night.
• Spend 2 nights in the blue city of Chefchaouen, and go on a breathtaking and adventurous hike in Akchour.
• Spend 1 night in Fes, with a quick stop in Volubilis on the way there.
• Visit the Oudayas and the Tour Hassan in Rabat, then rest up in Casablanca.
• Get decked out for the wedding and party for 3 nights in Marrakech.
• Endure the serpentine curves through the mountains to spend the night in Boumalne Dades, with multiple stops along the way.
• Head to Merzouga and go on a camel ride in the Sahara desert as the sun is setting. That is where I took the photo above.
• Spend a night in Ouarzazate, then drive back to Casablanca the next day. Or, bail out and get a last-minute plane ticket, like Joanna and I did :)

bauldoff:

Despite the painterly color and uncanny composition, the National Geographic Photo of the Day is, indeed, a photograph.

Photographer Franz Lanting captured this scene in Namib-Naukluft National Park, Namibia. The bright orange background is a large sand dune, illuminated by the morning light. Camel thorn trees line the foreground, in the shadow of another dune.

via @nopattern

Unreal!

One of Alex MacLean’s many spectacular shots from the sky.

For more shots from above by various photographers, check out my posts tagged with “aerial”.