The camels oh the Broome camels

I had told myself that I was not going do it no matter what. No bloody way was I going to do it. No way in hell the world needed another stock image of camels on parade on Cable Beach in Broome. I really like the animals themselves, the camels, but I really don’t get why tourists find it exotic to sit on a camel (or horse for that matter) at sunset. Not too crazy about the camel pushers (as I call them) either. Also every gallery and shop in Broome has wall to wall canvas prints of the camels at sunset. Cliché shot no. 1. is getting those camels silhouetted against the setting sun and I was definitely not going to do it!

But…you’re on Cable Beach and they walk right in front of the lens as you’re shooting and what can you do. Talk is cheap and so are pixels. So I shot just two camel shots and looking at them in Lightroom I find that one of them is actually sort of nice! The first shot is my stock image, entertainment for the masses and hopefully money in my pocket, camels silhouetted in the sunset as they basically just walked right into my sunset shot:

Click to see large size on my gallery! Copyright Flemming Bo Jensen Photography

Camels silhouetted on Cable Beach
© Flemming Bo Jensen Photography

The next one is the one I find is not too bad. At dusk the light is just drop-dead gorgeous on the huge Cable beach and I had this idea of capturing the light and the massive beach with something to show the scale. Could it be…camels! I looked left and saw yet another team of camels (there are lots of them) so I quickly swung the camera around on the tripod and shot one image:

Click to see large size on my gallery! Copyright Flemming Bo Jensen Photography

Camels at Dusk on Cable Beach
© Flemming Bo Jensen Photography

The story of camels in Australia is an interesting one actually. Thousands of them were brought to Australia in the 1800s for expeditions in the outback as they’re just perfect for the desert-like environment. When cars etc. became available large herds of camels were let loose and not surprisingly they do very well in the Australian outback! Meaning that Australia now has the largest population of wild camels in the world and the camels (of the one-humped Arabian variety) are so genetically pure that they’re exported to the Middle East!

Yes my friends; I can tell a good camel tale at the camp fire and can now also deliver the photos. Apparently the world needed just two more camels on a beach images!

12 Comments on “The camels oh the Broome camels”

  1. haha i can't believe you did it either!!! sometimes you just can't help yourself and it must be done…

    i love the sand/water reflection of the first shot.
    i'm not as keen on the slight movement in the camels though sorry. i tried, but just couldn't quite get it. for me, from the legs down is magic. i really like that!!

    were you fighting the crowds to get this shot??
    i've seen "behind the scenes" shots of the Mesa Arch in the US, where there's about 50 or so photographers waiting! not for me thank you.

    makes you wonder how the hell Peter Lik got to walk out on the arch for his photo to be taken. can't remember where I saw that one… pretty cool shot though, but i'm sure it woulda made a few people quite peeved that day! line up to take a shot and then some ozzie walks across the damn thing and you miss the light! 😛

  2. Thanks Stephen, yeah I wasn't planning to I got carried away by circumstances 🙂 If I had planned to shoot camels I would have used a faster shutter speed! Don't know what you quite mean with 'from the legs down is magic though!

    Cable Beach is huge and at least 20 k's so there is heaps of space, no crowd at all. Yes there are plenty of tourists but the beach is so massive you just move some Ks down the beach and you have all the space you want. I don't think I've seen Lik's Mesa Arch shot actually but I'm with ya, don't wanna be queing for shots! Takes the magic away.

  3. i was just stating that i really like the bottom half of the image. in a round about way i spose 😛

    sounds nice. yeah i don't like the crouds at all. be nice to see the stairway to the moon up that way too

  4. haha – sucker ! 😛

    Well it would be kind of hard not to…what else could you add in a shot at Cable beach….100 4WD's ?
    I agree about the beautiful light in the second image Flemming… and with so much wet sand about thanks to the flatness of the beach and the large tides there is plenty for it to reflect on.

    cheers,
    tone 🙂

  5. Hehe thanks Tony, yeah dusk reflected in such large tides is a pretty easy recipe for gorgeous light! I could have gone for 4WD's, pretty sure I can find 100 of them on Cable in no time 😀 But I sold out and got the camels!

  6. Nice Cliche shots mate I prefer the bottom one bit different from the ones you see all the time . Not a big Camell or Horse fan as well coming from a farming back ground they were seen as pests and werent really pratcial transportation on farms these days when you have motor bikes now . Going up to Broome at the start of next year , the cliche shot was on my list as well mainly

  7. Thanks mate! And yeah, bottom one is by far the best one, first shot is just plain stock shot.
    But how can you not like the camels and horses, they're brilliant. I grew up on a farm as well and love animals, like 'em much more than I like humans!

  8. Yeah I love animals , a real dog person and have had many different pets growing up in the country (fruit bats , cats , kangaroos etc) . But have never really liked horses for some reason got nothing against them I think its more influenced by the stuck up people that go to horse races that think there better then every one else and who have more money then sense .

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