Carved Door in Zanzibar, a photo from Zanzibar, Est

Photographer's Note

At the risk of repeating myself, I am posting another carved door, this time from Stone Town in (on) Zanzibar. (The first one was from Lamu.) These doors are found all up and down the "Swahili Coast" - basically, the Indian Ocean coasts of Kenya and Tanzania, which have long been ports of call for Arab and Indian traders. Most historians hold that the patterns for these doors came from India; there is even an argument that the commonly used spikes, such as are seen on this door, were intended to keep elephants from breaking them down!

Many of the best doors are now in museums or in private collections, but in towns like Lamu and Stone Town, you can still see them on the streets. I spotted this one and added it to my (photo) collection.

Technical: Some cropping, and some use of levels to bring out the details in the shadows.

mesquens, vincz trouve(nt) cette note utile

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mesquens (2401) 2007-10-09 18:24

Interesting shot.
Well done
greentings
Raimundo

batalay (41261) 2007-10-09 18:24

Hello Dan,

I just happened to log on as you posted this superb detail shot of the door in Zanzibar. This is a good addition to a series that is beginning to take shape. I had read about studs/spikes on heavy doors to discourage nosy elephants. As with your previous post of the door, you've shot the photo with one of a pair of doors open, a good scheme to give it depth. In any event, the colors, textures and resolution are all very good.

Warm regards,

Bulent

vincz (19113) 2007-10-11 0:29

Excellent details of this beautifully carved door. I like very much the tones. A very interesting one.