# Anyone got a shovel?



## Chris of Arabia (Mar 10, 2009)

Today we had a sandstorm. The first shot was taken at around 11:30 local time. Most were adjusted very slightly for levels and saturation, but #6 was untouched except to resize and sharpen a fraction.

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## Antarctican (Mar 10, 2009)

Yikes, looks painful to be out in that. 

Does the sky really go orangey like that (presumably so, as you say #6 is an untouched shot)? Does the sandstorm wreck the paint on cars?  How often do they happen around where you are?


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## Chris of Arabia (Mar 10, 2009)

It wasn't too pleasant. You can taste the sand in your mouth and you eyes go gritty if you spend any amount of time out there. The sky does go orangey like that, though this is the worst I've seen in the 9 years I've lived here or the 9 I was visiting before that. It can wreck car paint, but more so when you are driving them. After 3 years, the paintwork is a little dull on mine, mainly from driving across the Dammam highway to get over to Bahrain. They don't happen all that often, though there is always dust in the air here. You'd perhaps reckon on 2 or 3 a year, but this one is an absolute pearler.


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## Hoser (Mar 10, 2009)

I hope you protected your camera while you were out in that. All that sand getting into the crevices would not do it any good.


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## bigtwinky (Mar 10, 2009)

Freaky looking... very end of the worldish!


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## Chris of Arabia (Mar 10, 2009)

Hoser said:


> I hope you protected your camera while you were out in that. All that sand getting into the crevices would not do it any good.



Not to worry, it was only the P&S. I only took a couple of shots outside, the rest were done in the office.


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## sleepingdragon (Mar 10, 2009)

You can keep your sand storms, they look rather unpleasant. At least the snow here melts. Nice shots by the way.


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## Chris of Arabia (Mar 10, 2009)

Just saw this on the BBC - Riyadh dust storm. We were already in the middle of it by this time. That building in the right foreground is where I worked for the 1st 7 years I was here. The picture is taken from the Kingdom Tower, the view from the top of which is quite stunning.


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## Fraggo (Mar 10, 2009)

I remember seeing those quite a bit when i was in Iraq, the orange was deeper though. and you will be amazed at how long a DSLR will last in that kind of weather.


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## Hobbes (Mar 10, 2009)

Holy crap! That looks scary. It's almost like a very thick yellow fog 
Well I don't think a shovel would have helped it's only good when sh*t happens


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## Battou (Mar 11, 2009)

...I came in here expecting snow.....I don't know why either, I mean I know full well where CoA is :lmao:

 a slight sharpen, tain't much to sharpen there. Reminds me of winter whitout conditions.

Like sleepingdragon said, I'll stick to the snow, it melts.


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## leighthal (Mar 11, 2009)

I was watching this on the news. Eeeekkk.  Your pictures are much better than the news footage.


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