Mt. Nemrut, Turkey

Mt. Nemrut is a 7000 foot mountain in southeastern Turkey. During the first century BC, King Antiochus I of the Commagene Kingdom commissioned several 30-foot (10 meters) high megalithic statues to be built around what is believed to be a royal tomb. Over time, earthquakes damaged the ancient structures and all of the heads fell off the bodies and tumbled down the hill. The Turkish government righted them and positioned the heads for easy viewing. To make this shot, my photo tour group left our hotel at 3am, drove for two hours, and then walked 20 minutes up a trail to photograph the ancient site before dawn. This is a 20 second exposure, and in that time I used a flashlight to illuminate the background statues as well as the foreground head. It took several test shots to establish the correct exposure. My aperture was f/8 and the ISO 640, and I used a 24-105mm lens at 24mm.