Canon 5D MKII | 1/125s | f/8 | ISO 160 | EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM @ 105mm

Picking a title ceased to be a speciality

The photo was taken during my trip to the Eastern Region of the UAE, though I never intended that this would go up here. It started out as an exercise in image editing since I began to shoot everything in RAW format. Usually, I would use RAW only if I had the intention to do something with it (usually an HDR). Not that I ever underestimated the power of RAW, but I never appreciated how much room it would give me in salvaging a standard, thoughtless shot.

With everything that has been happening the past couple of months in Syria, I have become very nostalgic. I miss the streets, the restaurants, the people, the indescribable feeling knowing that this is a country that has been around to see all other civilisations grow, many of which have also perished.

I miss my home, and not just Damascus. I miss the very quiet, uneventful small town of Safita, which lives in a different life-space continuum than the rest of the country, like many villages worldwide do. It’s a place where people take their time to age, where roads and buildings almost never change, nor does the scenery. It’s a place where time is measured by harvesting seasons, of olives and figs and nights spent on balconies counting stars and doing little else.

And with the crazy, ruthless schedule of mine in Dubai, I yearn for this escape, where a week seems like a month, or two, dragging on and never ending.

Photo taken during summer, two years ago.

Canon EOS 400D | Sigma 30mm | 1/250 sec | f/3.5 | ISO 100 | Natural sunlight

Canon EOS 5D Mark II | EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM at 155.0 mm | 1/160 sec | f/2.8 | ISO 320 | Window light (sunlight)

A couple of days ago I passed by Knowledge Village, where the Gulf Photo Plus 2011 event is taking place, on my way to work. Though I typically assist, this year I decided against doing so because of other commitments I have this week towards work and college. Add to that cumulated stress over the past few weeks and many things to catch up on and errands to run. When I passed by, however, I couldn’t help but have a heartache. I never expected I would react in this way, but it physically hurt me that I am not part of the event. My whole body was revolting against the idea that I am not taking part of this great annual photography event.

With that, I decided to take the rest of the week off (I work part time but had a lot of things to do this week) and pushed my college work further into the weekend. I charged the batteries, picked up the camera, and was ready to roll.

That was the best decision I made since the year started.

I already feel not only ecstatic – but empowered. Though my brain loves to play the self-defeating game when it comes to photography, this time I decided to shut up my brain and just click that shutter button away. Today I had the opportunity to take photos of the wonderful Olita Dubanevica before Claire Rosen‘s “Portrait & Fashion Photography” class. I will upload some of the images to the gallery, as well as the experience, but here’s a little preview of how they look like at the moment:

Tomorrow, Friday 11th, is PhotoFriday which promises to be a superb event full of talks by world class photographers. I am very confident they will be incredibly inspirational.

I will write another update after the event.