Oasis

Perhaps not an oasis in the classical / dictionary sense of the word but I liked the contrast and the fullness of the image.; the water provides a clear indication of life (is that salt though on the banks?) - a cold oasis perhaps in the middle of Iran.

I do like the he contrasting greenness of fields in a silted and stark valley below sweeping skies and barren hills (the Indus river in the Karakoram mountains?) brings out the frailty of human endeavour. Great contrast and very nice light.

Love it. Normally don't go too much for tall versus wide pictures but here there's a great sense of enclosure thanks to the fish-eye that really does reinforce the feeling of being pent up against a harsh and barren environment beyond.

I like this one for its placid bleakness nicely captured at sunset; there's a satisfying sense of normality too. It is not quite what an oasis looks like in the classical sense of the word but it corresponds to reality in many places.

This photo works well: there's the harshness of the surroundings and the appeal of the water into which one would happily go for a splash... I wouldn't want to be wandering off beyond those very forbidding rocks - especially if there's a casino on the other side!

A very metaphorical oasis I should think. More an island in suspension yet it works for me, there is that very demarkation beween life and an impossible surrounding... indeed, I wouldn't care to be wandering around in all that whiteness.

There is indeed something very appealing about this picture though the "oasis" is very metaphorical; the gentle soft flow of the harvested hills do ressemble sand dunes. though the craggygreen bit caught within doesn't look particulaly inviting as would an oasis.

A nice welcoming glow comes with this image; as an oasis it's not cut off from civilisation as such and Rudolph Valentino would be in for a shock if he had come across this particular oasis but one can easily imagine trekking through a harsh desert and stumbling on this vision a thinking it a mirage.

A great shot I think, a little bit of nature apparently surviving in a geological fault of some sort resisting barrenness. The image gives a good impression of a small fragile world set apart and adrift in an expanse of dryness...

A lovely peaceful gow with a great silhouette is captured in this photo. The setting is perhaps not as luxurious as one would imagine an oasis to be (at least in popular imagination) but it exudes a sense of relief and rest against the harshness of the desert beyond.

I found this image strangely appealing though the environment surrounding the miniature oasis / island isn't exactly barren or forbidding, there is however a nice density / contrast in it that gives off the impression of a precious though miniature refuge.