“Are you ready to rock?”
Mother Nature is the best artist, and natural rock formations are her sculptures, just like every colorful sunrise or sunset are Her paintings. These ancient monuments were formed by thousands of years of high winds and water erosion, sometimes they become too weird and quirky to be created by a human mind. On a tiny island like Malta, you would not expect to find so many of these quirky-looking rock formations, from giant rocks that resemble a mushroom to that resembling a camel. I am fascinated by these natural sculptures, could there really be a “Cosmic Joker”? who is responsible for random anomalous phenomenon on Earth? Playing tricks on mere humans with Pareidolia.
The Camel Rock St. Peter’s Pool in Delimara resembles a tiny camel sitting on a rock. I visit this location multiple times during the year, the place is rich with odd-looking boulders, there are two boulders that resemble two crab claws, and there is also a giant boulder which is called ‘Il-Karkura tax-Xitan’ (The Devil’s Slipper), and a rock resembling a wave. I consider this place an open-air gallery with sculptures.
The Camel Rock
The Mushroom Rock
During the past year, I planned to shoot these quirky-looking rocks, and I visited and revisited waiting for the right moment, all depending on the cloud cover and also movement as I wanted to capture the element of passing time over them. To shoot the Mushroom Rock in Wied il-Mielah, Gozo, I spent two days in a tent waiting for the right conditions. The horizon behind the rock can ruin the image if positioned right in the middle or over the subject, therefore I laid down as close to the ground as much as possible, also to prevent camera shake because that weekend the wind was very high from North West (Mistral).
The weather forecast said it would rain, and it was fifty percent cloud cover, I got out early in the morning to try my luck at the Camel Rock. I found a clear sky and I was almost calling it a day, it was the first time I decided to record a vlog and when I pointed my iPhone front camera I started recording, after a short while I saw a huge cloud coming from overhead. I waited for it to get into the frame and I have gifted a great dramatic sky. This reminded me that, it is never over until it is over, I learned to wait a bit more for any kind of magic to happen.
There are few huge boulders scattered around the island, especially located at the edge of cliffs. These resemble giant sentinels, laying there like protectors of the island. I will write about these in the coming blog posts. Till then, I’m on the hunt for good weather to continue this little series of images.