The Mute Herald

The new year started without a bang for me.  I arrived home from work with 35 seconds left on the countdown, then caught the 10 minute long Burj Khalifa fireworks display on TV. But hey, I still had free drinks, no crowds, no traffic, no parking hassle, and I didn’t have to wait hours before getting home.

Moving on to a less sad subject, now the 366 project officially kicked off, and here’s my first photo which I called Office Furniture:

While fooling around on the center strip (taking multiple shots to later choose the best one), a crowd of 3 workers gathered behind me. By the puzzled look on their eyes I could read their thoughts: what the hell is he taking a picture of? I could have gone into the merits of the composition, colours, subjects, lines, title, etc.

But I chose not to.

Eight days in and I need to take stock of my 366 “workflow”. I’m spending (investing?) way too much time to take this daily picture. It has to be something that I take in stride, not take a couple of hours from start to finish – location, shoot, drive home, post-process, upload. I guess it’s a learning curve.

You don’t usually realise how fast the sun moves while setting. Unless you decide it’s picture worthy but you’re stuck in the middle lane of Emirates Road. This happened to me today, and by the time I overtook some lorries, crossed three lanes (safely) and found an unobstructed view, the moment had gone.

Here is today’s picture for the 366 warm up, which I called True Self Portrait.

One photo a day (2012 is a leap year apparently). It seems many budding and professional photographers embark on such projects, for creative or self-improvement purposes. And now I’m starting mine, for both. The rules are simple: shoot and upload a pic a day. The idea is not to have masterpieces, but to get you thinking about the elements of good photography on a regular basis. Clocking up the hours this way never hurts. You can shoot with any type of camera: DSLR, point and click, or even camera phone.

I had never done something like this, so I went ahead and started 19 days early.  You know, to warm up.  These are some of my post worthy shots:

The full album with daily updates will be maintained on Google plus.

It will not be easy. There will be some days when you Just Don’t Want To Pick Up A Camera. Wish me luck.

No it’s not Economics-101. It’s about personal finances. And photography.

I have spent enough on my new hobby to declare a temporary halt on further accessory purchases. It’s time to assess the current situation, see whether it’s a passing thing or something that will eventually pass. The output itself seems to be on the right track, judging from the praise I receive from my wife (may sound obligatory, but in fact isn’t), as well as the lack of negative criticism from peers (even when pushed).

That doesn’t stop me from wishing I could spend. All major (and not-so-) expenses are evaluated against the opportunity cost in terms of photography accessories. For example:

• If I hadn’t run up a bill of 3 speeding tickets, I could have bought a brand new decent focal length macro lens
• If I hadn’t been caught by another mobile camera just today, I could have gone for that 2nd hand one being advertised online
• Brand new sofa, or brand new Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L USM?
• Pay my utility bills, or get a new camera bag?
• Settle my credit card dues, or get a fish-eye lens to try something new?

You get the point.

Can't have a post about photography without a photo

Obviously doesn’t stay in Vegas, otherwise nobody would know about it.

Went there for the NBAA Annual Convention & Exhibition, then spent the first two days locked up in my hotel room sick with the flu.

Vegas was all that it was hyped up to be, yet I was a slightly underwhelmed.  The majority of the action is only concentrated around a strip of road a few blocks long. Much like Dubai it is a city built in the desert, with some really outlandish architecture. And that’s where the comparison screeches to a sudden stop. The gambling, flowing booze and nightlife set it miles apart.  The big hotels slash casinos are  fake reproductions of something else, with the exception of the Wynn and the Encore, which I took a particular liking to. Unfortunately most of the pictures I snapped were from the front passenger seat of a moving car, so I couldn’t position myself for a good shot of them.

Vegas is also a draw because of the concerts and staged events. There are household names like David Copperfield, as well as less known but surely entertaining acts:

The real killer was the flight (14 hours to Los Angeles), following which we had to drive for another 5 hours. And vice-versa.  At least I console myself with the fact the we flew over the North Pole, always had the sun on one side of the plane, and I walked away with some nice shots.

Almost 30 days since my last post.  Many things happened – my life almost turned upside down (in a good way). Then it didn’t. I bought tickets for a Metallica concert.  The blog anniversary drove by without barely a glance.

Photographically I was expecting to go out and about more, but I didn’t as much as I liked.  I did get to shoot my wife, sort of:

Then I got bored at home, so I shot whatever was lying around:

As well as the cat (even though I promised myself not to shoot too many cats):

And the other cat (to be fair, can’t favour one over the other):

And the cats together:

In the meantime the wife also launched a custom greeting cards venture, made by quilling.  Of course I got to shoot that too:

 You can reach her Facebook page (with more pictures) by clicking on the picture above.

Last week I went to pick up my wife on her return from holidays, and of course I took the camera along.  There’s always something to shoot at an airport.

As with any trip to the airport, one is bound to run into these remnants from 2008

I’m curious to know what the Arabic script says.

My lens collection increased by one today, to the grand total of two, thanks to the purchase of the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II.  It’s the cheapest lens in Canon’s portfolio, primarily because it’s made of plastic and has no zoom mechanisms.  The auto-focus is mighty loud too.  Still, it’s a highly recommended lens, it gets its job done.   To test it I headed out once more to the Dubai Mall.  I had an assignment from the photography course to capture an image while panning the camera, and I figured the ice rink would be perfect.

Places of worship attract me, photographically speaking.  They have an undeniable presence, and demand attention.

The below mosque gave me the impression that, being unfinished, it is more humble, as if it’s looking towards its sibling with yearning.

or: Why I will always buy my furniture from Ikea (at least while I have cats).