The Graveyard
February 6th, 2010There’s a clearing in Abu Dhabi’s old Mina Zayed which doubles as a graveyard for derelict dhows.
I recently had the opportunity to explore it. Here are a few of the resulting pictures.
The mina (port) is gradually being torn down to be replaced by highrise hotels, office and residential buildings. The first signs of the changes to come are starting to be visible.
I guess the old must make way for the new.
I did some more experimenting with HDR this round. The HDR images below were created from 7 exposures each.
The light was just perfect. It was late evening and the sun was low on the horizon.
I loved the sunlight through the window.
The hull of one dhow was ripped open, the rusted metal sheeting peeling away from the wood planks beneath.
Most all the propellers of the derelict dhows were rusted black. This was the only one which still retained its original paint – a rusty red.
I’ll be posting a panorama I took of the graveyard soon.
Stay tuned for more pictures!
Tags: abu dhabi, boat, dhow, fishing boat, graveyard, hdr, photo, photography, pic, picture
Posted in Travel/Urban | Comments (1)
The Kfardebian Natural Bridge
February 4th, 2010On the road between Faqra and Faraya-Mzar in the Lebanon’s Kfardebian district, stands an impressive natural structure: a stone bridge the archway of which measures some 38 meters. I understand that this “Jisr el Hajar” is listed among the top ten natural wonders of Lebanon (at No. 8, if I’m not mistaken), and accordingly is under (much needed and occasionally inadequate) government protection.
Here are a few shots from my visit to the area just before the last snowstorms.
This is an HDR image created from 5 separate exposures. I had to lie down flat on a tiny bit of rock that hung out over the void to take it.
Interestingly, the place was a hive of activity, with several groups of rock climbers arranged along the cliff face to the right of the bridge.
I also enjoyed the peculiar rock formations in the area I stood in, overlooking the bridge.
More pictures coming soon!
Tags: el hajar, jisr, kfardebian, natural bridge, photo, photography, pic, pictures, stone bridge
Posted in Travel/Urban | Comments (0)
Hands II
February 2nd, 2010Back in September of last year, I began a mini-project to photograph something I felt was relatively neglected and which offers a glimpse at a person’s inner world: hands.
It’s been a while since I added anything along those lines. So here are a couple of shots.
More pictures coming soon!
Tags: hands, people, photo, photography, pic, pictures, project
Posted in People | Comments (0)
The View from Faqra Club
January 31st, 2010I was at a friend’s chalet in Faqra early one morning and took myself out onto the garden terrace with the aim of creating a panorama of the beautiful view.
Normally, at the time I made the pictures the entire mountain landscape should have been white with snow.
However, despite record rainfall this year (accumulated over just two or three separate rainstorms) up until less than 2 weeks ago there was little snow except on the highest peaks with the weather remaining much warmer than usual. The past week and some’s storms will have likely changed that some.
Click on the thumbnail below to view a larger image.
I used my Nikon D700 sporting a Sigma 12-24mm f/4.5-5.6 lens and set on my trusty gorillapod. This image is created from 7 separate HDR images, each of which was created from 5 separate exposures. So that’s a total of 35 separate shots that went into creating this panorama.
More pictures coming soon!
Tags: faqra, faqra club, gorillapod, hdr, lebanon, mountains, pano, panorama, photo, photography, pic, sigma
Posted in Travel/Urban | Comments (0)
Experiments in Light
January 29th, 2010I was at a house party a while back when one of my friends walked into the path of an overhead spotlight. The play of light sparked an idea. I whipped out the camera and gear, and ended up roping most everybody into a somewhat mad photo shoot. Here are two of the results.
The first image was taken with the available light from a small overhead spotlight.
More pictures coming soon!
Tags: experiment, flash, house party, light, overhead spot, photo, photography, pic, pictures, portrait, Portraits, sb900
Posted in People, Portraits | Comments (0)
Temple of Adonis, Faqra
January 27th, 2010A while back, I began a mini-project to visit and explore the three surviving temples of Adonis in Lebanon. On the same day, I managed to visit the temple at Mashnaqa, and that at Afqa.
The temple at Faqra I had to reluctantly leave for another day. I finally managed to visit the site of these beautiful ruins just recently.
It was a heavily overcast day which softened the light and chased away strong shadows. And allowed for more than just an exploration of the temple itself.
One of the most striking features of the temple at Faqra is that it was partially cut and built into the living rock. The peculiar rock formations feature in clusters at the entry to Faqra and are commonly called the “Houses of Ghosts”. Time constraints meant that I couldn’t explore them for photo opportunities. But I guess that just means I’ll have to pay the region another visit. 
Here is a tonemapped shot of the entrance to the temple proper. The tiny figure of my friend standing inside the temple should give you an idea of how impressive the structure is.
On the other side of the temple of Adonis lie what I understand are the remains of the smaller temple of Atargatis.
In front of the temple of Adonis sat an empty cube a few meters across. The cube had windows cut into it. I wonder what it was meant to be.
I had my gorillapod with me, which helped me to shoot multiple exposures for creation of HDR images. Unfortunately, it proved rather unwieldy to use here given the open spaces which limited my choice of positions and angles. It also meant that the camera often ended up being at less than 20cm from ground level. That led to a lot of uncomfortable crouching to look through the viewfinder…
And finally, my favourite image from the set. I’m particularly proud of this one as it proved particularly difficult to set up and shoot (thanks to the size limitations of the gorillapod – still MUCH better than with no tripod, so no complaints). I particularly like the backlight provided by the sun gently shining through the modest cloud cover.
Tags: adonis, atargatis, faqra, ghosts, houses of ghosts, lebanon, mountains, photo, photography, pic, pictures, rock, ruin, ruins, temple
Posted in Travel/Urban | Comments (0)
The Chabrouh Dam
January 25th, 2010
That big massive wall above is the Chabrouh Dam. The yellow stone is supposed to help meld the wall of the dam with the surrounding mountainsides. From where I was standing, it seemed to be ineffective that way. Still, it does look pretty impressive. The 63 meter high dam is the largest in Lebanon and was inaugurated in 2007.
As we got closer to the dam, we passed a sign that proudly proclaimed, in both Arabic and English, that the Chabrouh dam area was home to an eco-friendly reforestation project. It was with no small measure of irony that I noted the pile of rusting iron dumped unceremoniously smack in the middle of the planted saplings, and just a few meters from the sign.
As I reached the foot of the dam, a lone figure walked out to the edge and looked down at the view below. Unfortunately, the figure disappeared before I could take a snap. I was incredibly lucky when the figure again came back to the edge and stood a moment. The clouds behind her parted just as I clicked.
My friends and I decided not to follow the long and windy road to the top of the dam (see the picture after the one here below). Instead, we decided to climb up the almost sheer wall of the dam. All 63 meters of it. Good fun and much-needed exercise (for me).
In the distance towards the top of the scene below you can glimpse the Faraya-Mzar skiing domains, the very top of the mountain snow-covered. We’ve had about 4 or 5 near constant days of rain and thunder and the temperature has dropped rather significantly. I would imagine that enough snow would have fallen by now to warrant the opening of the ski slopes…
Towards the bottom of the picture you can see myriads of saplings peppered across the slopes: the first signs of the reforestation project.
The patches of cloud spread across the sky were just stunning:
The scene below is of the reservoir hidden behind the dam. The reservoir has a capacity of some 8 million cubic meters of water and is about 1300 meters long. The water level seemed relatively low when I was there, but I’m sure with the steady rains we’ve been having as I write this, the water level must have risen somewhat. I would imagine the scene would be somewhat different as well, with the peaks all in white. Perhaps I may take myself back up there to take a look…
The image below is an HDR, created out of 5 different exposures.
More pictures coming soon!
Tags: chabrouh, dam, faraya, faraya mzar, mountain, mzar, photo, photography, pic, pictures, reforestation, reforestation project, reservoir
Posted in Travel/Urban | Comments (0)
Overlooking the Valley
January 23rd, 2010I was taking a walk with some friends the other weekend in the mountains in Faqra, Lebanon. It was late afternoon and we’d lost the sun behind cloud cover. Rain, it seemed, would be coming later.
The path we followed eventually opened out onto a valley, the slopes of which were mostly stepped farmland. The view was breathtaking.
While we paused to admire the view, I was struck with an idea.
I asked my friend, E, to model for me – she graciously agreed – and I conscripted her boyfriend, G, as a voice-activated light stand. I slapped on a half-CTO onto my SB900 flash, zoomed it to 200mm, and got G to hold it and aim it at the spot E would be jumping into.
I can’t thank them both enough – they were patient enough already with me on our walk as I would often whip out the camera to shoot some random thing or other – and they were awesome again here, full of enthusiasm. I had a blast shooting this and I hope you enjoy the result of our mountain photo shoot:
More pictures coming soon!
Tags: cloudy, faqra, lebanon, mountains, photo, photography, pic, valley
Posted in People, Portraits, Travel/Urban | Comments (0)
Lebanese Randomness
January 21st, 2010Today, I’d like to share with you a few random shots taken recently in Lebanon.
Window shutters, seen in Batroun:
The weapon of (mass) distraction, as explained on Gemmayzeh Street:
This put me in mind of a scene from a film noir:
The party bollard that insisted everything was real:
More pictures coming soon!
Tags: Beirut, film noir, gemmayzeh, harley, lebanon, photo, photography, pic, picture, random
Posted in Travel/Urban | Comments (0)
Mary’s Wisdom
January 19th, 2010Each time I pass near Sagesse University, in Furn-El-Chebbak, Beirut, I see this beautiful statue of the Virgin Mary. Each time, I’d tell myself I’d stop by and take a picture or two.
So the other day, I did just that.
This is an HDR image, created from 5 different exposures.
Tags: Beirut, furn el chebbak, hdr, lebanon, photo, photography, pic, picture, sagesse university, virgin mary
Posted in Travel/Urban | Comments (0)