One of my favorite American burger restaurants in Kuwait is Johnny Rockets or let’s say the best so far.

Every time I’ve been there I order cherry coke with every meal no matter what it is. for long time I’ve been noticing the color mixture of the cherry sauce when added to the coke. I can imagine a dark sky at night with a large red shapeless spot mixed in the scene and how that effect was beautiful.

that color mixture idea was in my mind until I got many pictures captured in London at night. I started to do my regular post photography work flow. importing the pictures, start editing the interesting ones and store the remaining in external HDs.

Suddenly, the saved scene of the mixture “Cherry coke”  came in to mind when I started to edit one of the pictures and guess what? the result was truly fascinating. the final result as I see is a mixture between red, black and white. and that what I can call it Cherry “Black and white” concept. A new inspiration from cherry coke color.

City Hall - London

I have been in London in the period between 27 Feb to 3 Mar 2009 for participating in Kuwait national day celebration held by National Union of Kuwaiti Student (UK – Ireland) branch. It was held in Cumbrland hotel ballroom. the audience were big and the preparations were very good.

After finishing the main purpose of my visit, I had two days before returning back to Kuwait. So, I spent most of the time in photography especially in the Hyde park. the weather was amazing in London. It is cold but different than the cold weather in Kuwait where we feel it deep in the bones. Since that visit was my first to London, so I took a bus tour to see the attractions and the most famous places in it. Below are sample pictures about the trip I had.

A view from London's eye

A silhouette shot for London's famous icon "Big Ben"

A night view for Tower Bridge

An angle for Thames river from Tower bridge.

A man wearing a robot custom under London eye.

A squirrel hiking on a tree in Hyde Park

A dog drinking water in Hyde park lake

Shooting star-trails from a corner in an abandoned building in the desert

I would like to apologize for this too long break without updating the blog or posting a new subject and that was because of the recent Israeli war on Gaza and being busy following up all the events, news, and participating everywhere (blogs, facebook, flickr, etc…) to condemn the horrible unfair war on our brothers and families in Gaza.

after what happened, finally I got sometime to hold my camera again and shoot some photos with friends. recently me and a group of friends photographers went to an abandoned military area in Sabeya desert in front of Bobyan Island for spending sometime for photography and picnic activities. the main subject was Star-trails photography at night. the place was so perfect for Star-trails photography since there is no lights at all except what we see far far away from the city. we had a great time preparing a BBQ and having a delecious meal. I will show you my results of the night shots I had during the trip. All photos were captured using Canon 40D + Sigma 10mm f/2.8 EX DC HSM Fisheye mounted on a Velbon tripod.

sitting arounf the fire, seeking heat !

Shooting star-trails from another abandoned building in the desert, you can see different lights where exposed during the long exposure photography

It was dark and cold night !

I was experimenting speedlite 580EXII canon flash at home and I thought it would be useful If I share it with others. I put just one flash behind the subject and face it upward. I used Canon 40D with STE controller mounted to control the wireless flash.

Colorless expressions is a result of an on foot trip accomplished yesterday in Kuwait city. we were three photographers (me, my brother Yousef and Osama Almajed). we spent around 4 hours walking between squares and buildings shooting only faces. I used only one lens “Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM” mounted on Canon 40D. Since the gear used was heavy, I used a manfrotto monopod to support the weight.

I converted my pictures to B&W and sepia “colorless”, so for than reason I named the video “colorless expression”. All photos were taken by me.

The Link of the Video show on Flickr is here

After going back home from Istanbul the day before yesterday, I have 10 more days remaining in my annual leave, so I will spend it inshalla in photography trips alone or with friends. My friend Osama Almajed, he is a photographer also and he is on vacation as well, we had a cup of coffee in coffee bean “almahboola” yesterday’s morning and decided to go to Ahmadi for photography. We met Dr.Hani ” a friend of us and a photographer as well” but he didn’t receive his new Nikon D90 yet. Since Dr.Hani didn’t bring his old camera, Osama requested Dr.Hani to be a model for shooting in one of Ahamdi’s public parks. I was setting up my flashes and umbrellas to take some portraits of Bengali workers in the park. unfortunately, it started raining before finishing of setting up the flashes, and I packed my stuff back as fast as I can before getting wet.

After we had “Osama and I” a great steak meal in Ruby Tuesday “Almahboola”, Osama Suggested to go to try the wireless flashes and the umbrellas on the beach since he had an idea to use his SUV Tahoe as a background. We found a guy from Ghana and Osama told him if he could be the subject to be photographed then he thankfully agreed and Osama shot him. Later, a lady came with her dogs for walking on the beach, Osama again called her if she could pose with her dogs in order to take a photo for her then she agreed. Photography & lighting techniques were collaborative work. Editing done by me using Adobe Lightroom 2.1 and Adobe Photoshop CS3.

Two wireless Canon Speedlite 580EXII flashes were used with 2 umbrellas on the left and the right of the subject and I was in between them in front of the model. Camera used is 40D with Sigma 10mm f/2.8 EX DC HSM Fisheye.

The following picture was photographed by Osama using my camera and I did the editing.

Special thanks to my friend Osama for the ride, lunch and the idea.

Hi guys .. Finlay I’m on vacation and I’m spending it away from my country. Istanbul is great and I loved it. Last time I have been there on 1996 ! So too long time gap between them! I’m having a good time shooting portraits and architecture. Thanks God my hotel has free wireless Internet connection.

have a nice day every one

I had a great trip on 5th October to a local vegetable market – Shuwaikh area and shoot many photos there. I intended to shoot mainly portraits since the people there are so inspiring to shoot their faces. Old workers and salesmen were every where and welcoming press (as they thought ). Whenever a salesman saw me, he shouted: please come and take a photo of me. My reply is always positive plus a big smile because the main reason why I was there is too shoot these portraits.

I had a funny conversation with one of the workers who was selling watermelons.

Watermelon man: Which newspaper you are working for?
Me: Its a private work, and I’m shooting here for fun. But I will post the pictures on internet.
Watermelon man: Oh, that’s great ! would you mind taking a photo of me?
Me: Sure, I’m here to take some shots of the pretty faces around here

After posing and shooting, I let him to see his face on the camera LCD

Watermelon man: Wow, I would be kidnapped then by women ! what a great shot .. hahaha (Happy)
Me: then you would be lucky
Watermelon man: Sir, where is you car? (While holding a big water melon)
Me: Thank you so much, how much is that?
Watermelon man: It is a gift, thank you for passing by.

and he put it into the trunk ..

That was a great example which showed how great is the effect of having such healthy conversation between the photographer and the people down the street. Photographer can get what ever he want of great poses or more just because he shows some sense of humor and smiles to the person who intend to shoot. I had so many trips similar to this one, each time I had such conversation which ended with great results.

Building a rapport is so essential in street photography, why? because people need to feel comfortable of the situation where you will photograph them. People need to be secured and not being scared of a bare look or a blank face may a photographer present.

The secret is the smile, just smile and you will get some great poses.

I used Canon 40D + Canon 70-200mm L f/2.8 in this trip

I was reading a local news paper today’s morning and I saw an Ad to the new perfume “Guerlain homme”. the words in the lower corner sounds strange and nasty “for the animal inside you” !

However, I googled the words “Guerlain homme” and got the official website. believe me it is an amazing website with a great flash design !! you MUST have a look yourself.

Enjoy watching the movie and the flash vedio, you should look at it with a photographer’s eye !!

First of all, I wish happy blessed Ramadan for all muslims around the globe.  In this special Islamic occasion, I would like to present my first cooperation “commercially” with one of the largest Islamic banks in the region which is Kuwiat Finance House. There will be other pictures to be presented here inshalla in the coming days, So keep refreshing your browsers.

Here is the second  TV Ad for the second period 7-9 Sep 2008

Another TV ad for the 3rd period 10-12 Sep 2008 .. Quran “The holly Islamic book”.

Another TV ad for the 4th period 13-15 Sep 2008.

The last piece in the whole group is this picture which is covering the period from 16 – 18 Sep 2008.

That’s it my friends .. thank you