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douglasstrattonphotography

Artist / Light Scientist. I create Art the way my eye sees the world. Message me for private viewings of my studio - ATL 👁 🎥 👁

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Afar Tribe
Great Horn Region Ethiopia
Photographed by @douglasstrattonphotography
On location with @godesigninc helping kids!! #
Appreciation is the least felt emotion on earth. What we have and what we think we need is so often over looked. Too often, we do not take the time to stop and appreciate things, big and small. The people in our lives the food on our tables the life we live. Our family and the people we love so dearly!
If we learn to see the beauty, the gratefulness, and the appreciation in the big and small, we learn to live a life of gratitude, and we learn the lesson that we have a great deal to be thankful for. I am thankful so many things but as I write this I am thankful that I had the experience to see another way of life which gives me insight on my own way of life. How I live and how I treat others and let them know that I am thankful for them. Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things!
God bless you - Douglas
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Afar people of the Horn of Africa who speak Afar (also known as ’Afar Af), a language of the Eastern Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family. They live in northeastern Ethiopia, southeastern Eritrea, and Djibouti, where, with the Issas, they are the dominant people. It is thought that the Afar were the first of the present inhabitants of Ethiopia to elaborate their pastoral life into full-scale nomadism, descending from the highlands of southeast Ethiopia and migrating to the stony desert area of Danakil, the name sometimes used by Arabs to identify them but which is now considered to be offensive

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Afar Tribal Mother and her two sons
On location in the Afar region of Ethiopia 🇪🇹 Photographed by @douglasstrattonphotography

Here a mother Afar woman consents to be photographed with her two sons in her home. Afar women often have intricate frizzed and braided hairstyles, and wear bright coloured bead necklaces, heavy earrings and brass anklets. Many Afar women cover their heads in public. This helps ward off the relentless sun.

Afar people are predominantly Muslim. They have a long association with Islam through the various local Muslim polities and practice the Sunni form of Islam. The Afar mainly follow the Shafi'i school of Sunni Islam. Sufi orders like the Qadiriyya are also widespread among the Afar. Afar religious life is somewhat syncretic with a blend of Islamic concepts and pre-Islamic ones such as rain sacrifices on sacred locations, divination, and folk healing.

Socially, they are organized into clan families led by elders and two main classes: the asaimara ('reds') who are the dominant class politically, and the adoimara ('whites') who are a working class and are found in the Mabla Mountains.[15]Clans can be fluid and even include outsiders like Somalis.

In addition, the Afar are reputed for their martial prowess. Men traditionally sport the jile, a famous curved knife. They also have an extensive repertoire of battle songs.

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Abameanda Afar Tribe
Photographed by @douglasstrattonphotography
On location with @godesigninc

The Afar (Afar: Qafár), also known as the Danakil, Adali and Odali, are an ethnic Cushitic people inhabiting the Horn of Africa. They primarily live in the Afar Region of Ethiopia and in northern Djibouti, as well as the entire southern part of Eritrea. The Afar speak the Afar language, which is part of the Cushitic branch of the Afroasiatic family. Afars are the only Horners whose traditional territories borders both the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

It is thought that the Afar were the first of the present inhabitants of Ethiopia to elaborate their pastoral life into full-scale nomadism, descending from the highlands of southeast Ethiopia and migrating to the stony desert area of Danakil, the name sometimes used by Arabs to identify them but which is now considered to be offensive.

The Afar subsistence economy depends on livestock, especially goats, some camels, and, more rarely, cattle. There are some exceptions, such as fishermen in the coastal areas and agriculturalists in the Assau oasis. The Afar also mine and export salt.

Proud, highly individualistic, and much feared by outsiders, they are organized in patrilineal kin groups. Cooperation in larger units such as a subtribe or tribe is induced only by warfare against other tribes or neighbouring peoples.

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Lofoten Islands Archipelago - Captured during Norway’s Midnight sun ☀️ aka Endless summer
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5 prints on display @masonfineart
From Left to right
Midnight Sheep - 40x60
Rein Fjord - 60x96
Olstinden Mountain - 40x60
Værøya's Mount Mostadfjell - 60x80
Rorbuer's of Hamnoya Island - 60x40

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The Eye 👁
Photographed by @douglasstrattonphotography

# It's very important to transcend places that hold us. Every capture is a moment in time that I look for intimacy with nature. I do the research before but it’s when connecting with nature that I get the moment and recice food for my soul! I visit these locations often and I come back to see landscapes like you would see an old friend. We have memories together and I yearn to be with these places that have excelled my Art. To get the shot I get comfortable being uncomfortable. Like this capture of an arch which felt like an eye looking back at me. I captured the sun inside this arch on a very cold winter morning after I slept in a hippy van with the temperatures around 7 degrees. I spent about a month exploring the Great American Southwest and I yearn to be back among the desert at this very moment. It’s an all inspiring landscape with many secrets and endlessness ... Thank you @canonusa ! #utah #desert #arch #landbridge #earth #eye #believeinyourdreams #adventure

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The Fire Remains
Photographed by @douglasstrattonphotography

As the full moon sets the sky’s diamonds reveal themselves.
Just as a candle cannot burn without fire, men cannot live without a spiritual life!

Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall!!! Get up!! Go make it all happen no matter what the world might say to you! All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them but we must fight everyday for what you believe will come true!!! The real question is do you have the fight to never quit??? 👁 I do!!! Lively Up Yourself and don’t be no drag!! 🎶 today is your day and now is your now!!! Big ups ✊🏼🙌🏽🤟🏽👍🏼🤘🏽🤙🏽🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

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Castles Made Of Sand
Photographed by @douglasstrattonphotography

The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experiences. The real question you need to keep asking yourself is or are you experienced? That’s what life is .... so be brave. Take risks. Nothing can substitute experience.

Excuse me while I kiss the sky 🌙😘⭐️🌤🐋🌊🙏🏽🤙🏽🤟🏽🙌🏽 The granite rock formations that extend to Land End in Cabo San Lucas have, over time, become much more than mere boundary markers or evocatively shaped oddities. The jutting promontory is a living symbol of the city, a sort of cinematic shorthand; and to see so much as a silhouette is to know exactly where you are in the world.

El Arco, in particular, is now as symbolically synonymous with Cabo San Lucas as White Cliffs with Dover or the Rock with Gibraltar. The naturally formed Arch bounded by two immense bodies of water–the Sea of Cortés and Pacific Ocean

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El Archo at Lands End ( Aerial Panorama )
Photographed by @douglasstrattonphotography
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The arch of Cabo San Lucas, is a distinctive rock formation at the southern tip of Cabo San Lucas, which is itself the extreme southern end of Mexico's Baja California Peninsula. The arch is locally known as 'El Arco.' It is here that the Pacific Ocean meets the Gulf of California or the Sea of Cortez . Inaccessible by land, those keen to visit this tasteful piece of organic architecture should hail a boat taxi in Cabo San Lucas Marina and say, “Take me to Land’s End, please!” Which is another name for it. It has multiple names, but whichever one you choose, people will know what you’re talking about: that place where the land ends, in an “el arco,” near Cabo San Lucas.

Geographically speaking, much of the municipality is almost unfathomably old. The granite monuments that comprise the half-mile Land’s End headland, for example, are estimated to have formed some 30 million years ago.

The real pioneers of Los Cabos were a mixed bag of Pericúes, priests, soldiers and pirates, hardy souls who journeyed from distant lands to seek their fortunes or serve God along the southernmost coast of the Baja California peninsula. Over the years, several of our writers have become fascinated by this scarcely chronicled history, and have attempted to trace the true evolution of the area…not from the appearance of the first fly-in fishing resorts, but from the distant mists of early human migration, when the first inhabitants arrived by raft from Melanesia.

I stand up next to a mountain
Chop it down with the edge of my hand
Well, I pick up all the pieces and make an island
Might even raise just a little sand
'Cause I'm a voodoo child
Lord knows I'm a voodoo child!!!!

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Værøya's Mount Mostadfjell
Photographed by @douglasstrattonphotography This is on display at my studio size 80x60!! It’s is in safe keeping for a great friend and collector ... you know who you are🤙🏽🙌🏽🙏🏽 Værøya is located at the end of the Lofoten archipelago and is a true wonder to be seen! This was one of the best days shooting of my life! Sometimes the journey is the destination and sometimes your destination is Værøya! I was flying around the Lofoten islands capturing unimaginable views hanging out of a helicopter. When we touched down on Værøya we drove up to the top of the island. This view was from a storybook I haven't read yet. The colors of this region can blow you away when the light is right! Cheers to the journeys you never forget!
The island of Værøya is a bird watchers paradise with more than 1.5 million seabirds, including sea eagles, auks, puffins, guillemots, kittiwakes, cormorants, arctic terns, eider petrels... This journeyed a Fine Art Photographer has been an amazing one and I wanted to thank so many people that have believed in my work , my my passion and my dream.... I believe that most of us live in a rat race world and feel as if we are running a never ending race. We have forgotten what it means to be a citizen of this absolutely beautiful natural world. I have spent days , weeks months in nature and I have lived apart of the system and that city life ... As look back I haven’t wasted one minute of time in the gloriously natural world that much of us have seemingly forgotten. In a world of smart phones and smart cars or even smart houses I believe it would be smart of all of us to stop the noise and taste the glory of that natural world. Appreciate it and to pass that love down to our next generation. Remember what makes you truly happy .... it’s not things ! 🤘🏽🙌🏽🤙🏽🙏🏽🌏.................
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If you would like to experience this location and a 5 Stars experience in the Lofoten Island then just ask @curriecotravels ! #lofotenislands #seascape #beachlife #coast #norge #Norway #lofoten #reine #arctic #Scandinavia #norge #explorenorway #arctic #Mountainporn #got_greatshots #teamcanon #neverstopexploring

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Olstinden Mountain Lofoten Island
Photographed by @douglasstrattonphotography
Sitting on the Reinefjord watching the tide just role away. There's nothing like Arctic light hitting just right so that you can see the turquoise colors of the water. Dreaming while you are awake is what it deals like! I used a 10 stop ND filter stacked with a polarizer filter to create a 2 min exposed image. This claimed the sea and blurred the clouds capturing a moment in time.
#lofotenislands #seascape #beachlife #coast #norge #Norway #lofoten #reine #arctic #Scandinavia #norge #explorenorway 🎅

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Rorbuer's of Hamnoya Island Lofoten
Photographed by @douglasstrattonphotography
The seaside wooden huts of the Lofoten Islands are called Rorbuer. They have a steeped in tradition, once housing scores of hardened fishermen who made the winter pilgrimage to the world’s most fertile cod fishing grounds. Fish are still the basis of all human settlement on Lofoten, but beginning in the 1960’s a number of the huts have been converted into accommodation for travelers. Visiting the Lofoten Islands and staying in a rorbu makes an already extraordinary experience even more distinctive.

The first Rorbu cabins in Lofoten were commissioned by King Øystein in 1120 as housing for the fishermen during the Lofoten fishing season. The cabins were simple structures, built on poles partly out in the sea and usually comprising two rooms: a storage room and a living room with beds. The storage room was used to store food and fishing equipment, and for preparations for a new day on the waters around Lofoten.

Cod fishing has been the economic lifeline of Lofoten for more than one thousand years. At one point, the Lofoten islands were the primary source of cod for all of mainland Europe. Fishing is still important to the economy (you can see codfish drying on wooden racks in many of the small villages), but tourism contributes more and more dollars to Lofoten every year. As a result, many rorbuer have been converted to tourist accommodations. Comfort levels span the entire spectrum, from basic and spartan all the way to luxurious.

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Reine Fjord
Photographed by @douglasstrattonphotography
If you want happiness for an hour — take a nap.'
If you want happiness for a day — go fishing.
If you want happiness for a year — inherit a fortune.
If you want happiness for a lifetime — help someone else.

Here’s some Soul Food for ya from the Arctic.
The breathtaking village of Reine is located on the island of Moskenesøya on northern Norway’s Lofoten arctic archipelago. With red and white fishermen’s huts dotting the shoreline and surrounding peaks of granite shooting out of the Reinefjorden, the village has earned a reputation as “the most beautiful place in the world.” The Lofoten islands offer some of the most unique rugged mountain and fjord landscapes. During the summer months when this was captured the lighting is constantly changing. Consequently the islands have long served as an inspiration for many.
Keep your dreams alive!!
Douglas 🤙🏽 Panoramas Print sizes
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Midnight Sheep
Photographed by @douglasstrattonphotography
Counting Sheep under the midnight Sun Arctic Norway
#Spælsau Sheep near the small village of Yttersand along the Lofoten Island coast. I started hiking along a bluff near the small village and these sheep seem to come out of nowhere. I started talking to the baby and he came to meet me. It was a beautiful moment under a midnight sun during an endless summer in Norway.
For one month before and one month after the summer solstice on June 21st, the sun does not set this far north. At all. And while we missed the true midnight sun by a week or so on our visit in late July, it never truly got dark. Even when the sun sets at midnight, it rises again at 2 am. Sunset…. sunrise. Sunset… sunrise. If you have trouble sleeping or a photographer’s fear of missing out, it may mess with your head. I fell in love with the perpetual twilight that threw lots of light in the sky every night.

A mountain is composed of tiny grains of earth. The ocean is made up of tiny drops of water. Even so, life is but an endless series of little details, actions, speeches, and thoughts. And the consequences whether good or bad of even the least of them are far-reaching.

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#Lofoenislands #Lofoten #Travel #nature #wildlife #norway #nature #sheep #Arctic

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Dreaming of Lands End
Photographed by @douglasstrattonphotograohy
After all of this time
After all of these seasons
After your one decision
To go to the water for reason
Now it's only the ocean and you
All of these lines
Will all be erased soon
They go out with the tide
Then come back with the waves
It's only the ocean and you
You don't want
You don't wait
You don't love
But you don't hate
You just roll over me
And you pull me in
When this work is done
And this coat is dry
When this world is too much
It will be
Only the ocean and me
When these sails go up
Mountains fade away
Stars come out
I'm finally free…

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Maroon Bells Bliss
Photographed by @douglasstrattonphotography -The wilderness holds answers to questions man has not yet learned to ask. Peak of the Aspen Tress fall foliage here at Maroon Bell. One aspen tree is actually only a small part of a larger organism. A stand or group of aspen trees is considered a singular organism with the main life force underground in the extensive root system. Before a single aspen trunk appears above the surface, the root system may lie dormant for many years until the conditions are just right, including sufficient sunlight. In a single stand, each tree is a genetic replicate of the other, hence the name a “clone” of aspens used to describe a stand.

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Keep your dreams alive. Understand to achieve anything requires faith and belief in yourself, vision, hard work, determination, and dedication. Remember all things are possible for those who believe but take ACTION!!! Get busy living!! Print Sizes
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Pieces of Dreams
A moving energy force can entertain the eye with its irregular patterns but the energy of the mind is the essence of life. 💧
# 👁 🎥 👁 🔊 🔊 🔊
@douglasstrattonphotography & @merrell_thompson

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Aspen On Fire 🔥
Photographed by @douglasstrattonphotography
#People will walk in and walk out of your life, but the one whose footstep made a long lasting impression is the one you should never allow to walk out.

#All of aspens typically grow in large clonal colonies, derived from a single seedling, and spread by means of root suckers; new stems in the colony may appear at up to 98–131 ft from the parent tree. Each individual tree can live for 40–150 years above ground, but the root system of the colony is long-lived. In some cases, this is for thousands of years, sending up new trunks as the older trunks die off above ground.

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Autumn Blessings
Photographed by @douglasstrattonphotography
Dry Falls at the peak of the autumn foliage in Highlands, North Carolina
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Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.

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Southern Love
Photographed by @douglasstrattonphotography
I love all Trees but Live Oaks are my favorite ❤️!!
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It is in the roots, not the branches, that a tree's greatest strength lies so if you know where you are from, it is harder for people to stop you where you are going!! Have big dreams my friends and hold on to them!! You can do anything your hearts can imagine!
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There’s an odd mystique that surrounds southern live oaks. They are iconic for their strength, endurance and longevity, and in many ways, they mirror the best qualities of the pioneering individuals and families who endured natural forces to survive and thrive in the South.

However, a large part of the oaks’ mystique is due to their great age. A single member of the species can live a half-dozen human generations or more or in this case 500 years old. Their looming centenarian presence in a community can make them an integral part of the history and spirit of that place. The old oaks are local landmarks. By the sight of a familiar oak, you know where you are and how far you have to go to reach your destination. They are old friends, living shelters, ecosystems and shady spots where neighbors might enjoy a glass of southern sweet tea and pass the hottest hours of a blazing summer’s day.

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Time with the Ancients
Photographed by @douglasstrattonphotography
#Time is the longest distance between two places

A 600 year old Bald Cypress Tree stands below the milky in all its glory and amazement.

To get this shot I rigged a 12’ tripod in this lake at night in the pitch black dark and light painted this Blade Cypress tree. Thanks to @canonusa this was shot with a Canon 5D mark 4 along with my favorite lens the canon EF 14mm 2.8 lens. I love it when a plan comes together 🙏🏽🤙🏽🙌🏽 ###
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