Poor people wish to live pleasant life like so many others in this world who are living well. When I was walking through the old spice market in Dubai, I saw many guys working as carriers. They are trying to get paid anyways just to help them selves and their families to live. Now I’m wandering how much time I spend shooting people in my spare time while I have a full time job and getting paid more than 50 times they get ! while they spent the whole day to get less than 150 $/month !

I think this is a gift from Allah to have such a good life ..  and for sure we must thank our God for this.

Try to help them live better

Back in time when I was walking in Dubai Marine, I saw this little angel preparing to take a shower in the fountain like every kid does. Fortunately I had my Canon EF 100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS USM Telephoto Zoom Lens mounted on the 40D at the right moment to capture this impressive shot. You never know when you will have your next best shot until you get ready for it.

I’m trying these days to be ready to capture a moment or a scene by thinking to put my camera in my car wherever I go. But in this horrible like hell weather in Kuwait (50c+ under shade) it is impossible to leave my camera in the car or it would be melt !

I’m posting images from my archive when the weather was reasonable for a photographer to walk outside and shoot. still no new images during summer untill the weather becomes better.

I went to Dubai earlier this month to attend a training course in Almurooj Rotana hotel. I also decided to stay at the same hotel which hosts the course. It is a 5 star business hotel with lots of great facilities. Compared to other hotels I stayed in previous courses, this one is pretty good (of course Kempensli hotel - Dubai is the best among them). I like the room service and the business center special services for the executive rooms residents. I liked the atmosphere in the business center along with the free juices and coffee served over there. The fast free wireless Internet access was very helpful to finish my daily work-related tasks. I really liked the facilities there especially the restaurant which is located in the ground floor. Their open buffet included so many delicious choices from salads to desserts.

I mentioned in previous post called “permission” that I went to the backyard (or you can call it the gardens) and took some pictures at night. well this picture above is one of them but I didn’t post it until now.

I tried to use some elements available around the frame to form a good composition. The timing was perfect for me because I intended to include the dark blue color of the sky after sunset rather than the black one at late night. I also included a part of a tree as a frame from the right and used the stairs handrail to frame the the lower part of the picture.

Famous places in any country have been photographed thousands of times, thats for granted. too many photographers are complaining “what to shoot?” or “this place has been photographed zillion times before, so what difference could we add to the view?”

There is always different angles to shoot any place (as I have Kuwait Towers here in my situation). each photographer has unique eye. Different circumstances (time, equipment, composition, etc…)  make the difference in any shot. In my photo “illustrated above” I used Canon 350D with Sigma lens 10-20mm on a tripod before sunset. I’m not sure I’ve used 3 different exposed RAW pictures to create this view since it is hard to get identical shots because of the movement of the waves and the clouds. Therefore, I used here one single RAW and created 2 more RAW files with different exposure before mixing them in Photomatix.

Let me summerize the elements I’ve included in this shot:

- Rule of thirds (ground and sky)
- Clouds are included in the composition (Time makes the different) .
- Eye leading item was used (waves) to lead your eye to the subject (Kuwait Towers).
- Artistic touches like HDR mixed with B&W was applied here.

Yesterday I had good photography mood when I left my office. I got back home and had lunch then I prepared to have a photography break since I hadn’t take one in Kuwait long time ago. I went to Kuwait Free trade zone and picked up a good location to shoot sunset photos including Doha power station in the composition. the beach was so beautiful with those small water spots reflecting sun light. I used here couple of colored filters with gradual ND8 to add an artistic touch on the photo.

Be careful when going to that area since the mud is moving and suck the feets !! I really panicked when my feet sunk in the mud ! I barely jumped out on a stable spot while carrying my packbag, tripod and chair ! any ways, I got the above shot at least.

I was reading some blogs about photography and updating my photography knowledge base. I found an awesome link to unconventional wedding photography website presenting number of fascinating shots taken in multiple different countries around the world.

I was impressed of the great captures especially the B&W ones. very good shots.

While I was getting prepared to an exam about project management next morning; I felt exhausted and I wanted to change my mood. So I graped my Camera and get down to shoot the view which I was looking for since I have been in this hotel 2 days ago. I was sure that If I walk alone among hotel facilities carrying my camera bag and the tripod I would be arrested and questioned so I went to the lobby and get a permission from a person in charge and has an authority and assured that she understood that I’m holding unusual camera which is not a point and shoot one. Thanks for her she permitted the request and I walked through the garden passing by the swimming pool and took some night shots.

You can see this one also

How do you feel when you wake up early in the morning? honestly I’m in Dubai now attending a training course in projects management. when I woke up in my fancy hotel room, I’d run towards the window and open the shutter so I can get exposed to the incredible sun light. before even washing my face, I was in a photography mood, so I looked here and there looking for an interesting subjects. I found this vase “picture above” and shooted it using the available defused sun light came from the window. I tried to add an artistic touch by including the reflection of the vase on the desk glass. I’ve used my Canon 40D with 50mm f/1.8 lens. the ISO was relatively high = 640 but fortunately Canon has an amazing noise reduction technique so I didn’t suffer.

I have purchased a two tutorial DVD set about Canon 40D called Canon EOS 40D Made Easy.  it seems that the guys who did this video are masters in canon cameras “technically”. although their presentation wasn’t that good “quality of recording”. but the over all information and the detailed teaching manner was amazing. I recommend this tutorial for newbies who do wanna know simply each single function step by step in a new camera.

when I was in Dubai Last month for a training course I had an amazing time to take photos right after leaving the class. I went to Dubai Marine to explore the place for the second time and look for some subjects to shoot. I found the place crowded with people, it seems like an open day and there are lots of shops on the marine bank selling hand made products and souvenirs. I graped my weapon “Canon 40D with Canon 100-400mm IS L” mounted and it was ready to fire. there were so many kids playing in the fountain. they seem having so much fun under water splashes. I sat on a corner and start shooting them. the sun is getting ready to set but there was direct light on the subject being photographed. with the help of the Auto ISO feature of my camera I managed to freeze some scenes. after feeling satisfied with the great results. I had a juicy burger for the lunch in Johny rockets restaurant.