Here and there.. this and that..
was at the opening of a group photography exhibition last Wednesday.. Sense of Sight
Hind Mezaina's participation in the group exhibition..
overexposed staged Mezaina family portrait.. pardon the out of focus..
Mahmoud Kaabour and Girl Talk..
The Lost Fingers.. well, most of it.. 
Mahmoud Kaabour towards the end of another fantastic Mahmovies! night
2009 passed quickly, the 2010 appears to be in a hurry too.. it is almost end of Jan and I am already putting some plans for 2011.. my camera was in repair and my laptop crashed and got recovered like magic.. this is how i started the year.
some of last photos i captured in 2009..
sham..
a typical bargain scene in the fruits and veggie market..
weather was getting better, captured after a 5k beach run..
Fadi, my friend who works for Canon got me a tilt-shift lens to try it out over a weekend without prior notice! it was showering rain that weekend and i barely managed to take a couple of shots using that awesome lens.. how ironic.
i was out of the country last year during the few days of rain attack and i heard ridiculous stories about traffic chaos in those days.. i experienced this chaos myself this year..
saw several of these during the rain.. we have quality drivers over here in dubai.
no matter how random i throw the camera to capture a random photo in dubai, burj dubai (or khalifa?) will be in it.. took these photos while driving from the side window.. the right side window..
a smoke in the jam under the rain..
without any exaggeration, it took me around 6 hours office to home that day.. it was horrible.. when i got in the car it was daytime and i was stuck until the evening..
went in december to watch Barcelona playing in the semi final match of fifa clubs world cup.. i am not a football person, but it was really fun to watch a live game..
the mexican team (can’t remember the name) scored the first goal..
the wave!
the signed said: All Syria Loves Messi!
yeah.. lots of bazooka photographer were there too..
the game was over 3-1 to Barcelona who won the cup eventually..
Deni spent holiday break over here.. it was great.. we went on 31st of december to watch Capitala tennis tournament.. we could not get tickets for the last two days to watch Federer or Nadal playing..
but we watched davydenko who was slamming ferrer with one of his crazy serves in this shot.. davydenko lost against ferrer, but i think i overheard the news the other day about him being ranked first or so nowadays? i enjoy playing sport over watching sport..
uber belated happy new year… or so
met, shook hands and had a 10 minute chat with him.. quite enlightening it was
if you do not know who this dude is, read on
went last month in the ArtBus trip to Abu Dhabi Art fair and some local galleries with some friends.. an art loaded day..
most of the people who were on the same bus are in this shot..
appreciating art..
nostalgic..
can’t remember if it was Kinan or myself who took this shot, i like it though..
reading under the spotlight.. or the moon light..
Emirates Palace from the outside..
more photos from last month.. Mahmovies! at JamJar, a weekly screening of arthouse films..beanbags, cupcakes and free pizza..
i think i might go there next week too, it will be “EUROPA” (1991) by Lars Von Trier this time.. the event is curated by award-winning filmmaker Mahmoud Kaabour
Mazen was there too..
free pizza!
“Soy Cuba”
and got an invitation to Harley Davidson’s open day, passed it along to friends.. Maisa, Kinan and Jamal showed up too..
Kinan was interested in the jackets more than the bikes.. unlike Maisa..
she didn’t notice he was standing behind her until after i took the photo..
biker chick waiting for her shawerma sandwich.. exotic
even better.. a biker with diet coke instead of beer
Kinan and Maisa got enough accessories to re-brand their Pajero into a Harley Davidson car ;)
the 2010 roadking..
its dashboard is bigger than my jeep’s
to own a harley one day is on my bucket list..
i am back in Riyadh this week, publishing this entry from the premises of my glorious room number 421 where i stayed for months in the past year. believe it or not.. it is good to be back.. knowing i am only here till end of the week.
Nasreen and Adrian.. a few months old photo i took when the guys came to dubai for a few days trip. i remember it was one terribly humid summer day, the sheesha place was quite cozy though.
last month there was some fuss about Adrenaline Sports Live in Abu Dhabi, a good excuse to visit some friends in AD..
went with Ali.. we were adrenaline thirsty..
and what did we find? a bunch of sk8er boys..
and some motor show.. a classic
and a transformer..
this is how my jeep should look like..
Abu Dhabi Police revealed the Falcon Bike.. a custom designed chopper made specifically for them.. fekin awesome machine.. loved the claws towards the front wheel hub.
too much adrenaline?
there was a big crowed by some serious combat field, they were shooting each other with plastic bullets..
can you spot the adrenaline loaded grin?
our fellow here did not was to reveal his identity.. i sure can’t wait to go there again next year. can’t miss such important events.
and speaking of important events..
i spent a couple of weeks recently undertaking motorbike driving classes.. looks more like a circus in this photo..
lesson one, driving on the line of a big eight drawn just to get you dizzy.. and after few laps you realize it is not ‘eight’ but rather ‘infinity’..
enthusiastic instructors..
this is Ahmed, my instructor.. you can tell he is a very friendly dude from this photo..
showing me stitches under his knee, he broke his leg few months ago thanks to a failed stunt attempt.. quite motivating.
Ahmed getting ready for some photo shoot on his trail bike..
i thought a broken leg is a lesson good enough to stop being a jackass.. anyway, this is how i learned driving motorbikes.. i got my license and got some stupid t-shirt tan.. now i need to spare some ‘time’ to think whether or not i should get a bike in a city full of reckless drivers..
so..
every now and then, someone gets too creative in the office to order lunch from a place we never tried.. this was supposed to be from some fine asian noodles place.. didn’t look fine to me.. looked more like second hand noodles
Nikko.. the culprit who ordered noodles..
the sales boys having their.. noodles
shifting to something that tastes good.. and looks good.. my new passion.. frozen yogurt
meet Shirley..
he kept staring at me for a while..
photos from my almost daily experiences with traffic jams in Dubai..
a monster truck with designer curtains
and a long queue behind me.. living the dream..
I am sure I’ll skip my morning run tomorrow.. i still have a couple of months to get ready for the race.
good night..
yet again, another blogging platform migration.. this time from blogspot back to self-hosted wordpress. google’s products are fine, but there is always someone out there that can kick some ass.. and wordpress sure kicks ass compared to blogspot. so this is the first blog entry, slightly different layout, and a new URL..
i have gathered from several of blog mailing list subscribers that the last couple of post notifications required some validation and login details.. not sure what the problem was but as i am keeping the older posts in blogspot, you can check the last two out via the following links:
Across Europa – a big collection of photos from Europe vacation last March
WOMAD ‘09 – World of Music, Art and Dance festival in Abu Dhabi, UAE
Also, if you are using Google Photo Screensaver you might be interested in my screensaver photo feed which contains over 100 tagged and selected photos 1455×924 pixels each. you simply need to copy the following URL and paste it in your screensaver feed reader from the Settings panel:
I have been taking some photos here and there lately.. below is what I have ready for now and will post some more soon..
another summer in Syria – Deni came from Germany, her grandfather came from Italy.. and Majed and Magda came down from Turkey where they were visiting relatives.. it was a full house and so friggin busy! I actually did not take a lot of photos in Syria, even though we visited a lot of new places that i have never been to before..
the sign says: Dear Visitor – Please do not get close to the lake.. otherwise the lake monster will hunt you for dinner.. (Balloran Lake)
some mountains..
roadside tents.. very common in the mountains – they usually sell local fruits and vegetables.. i was too lazy to get closer for better shots.. we were on a road trip toward s the Syrian-Turkish borders.. some said it’s worth it..
behind the mountains we approached the Mediterranean seaside.. quite and interesting scape.. mountains.. water.. whatever.
this is hassan, our chaperon most of the vacation.. he got a great collection of topnotch mixes that he keeps playing in his minibus.
Majed and Magda came with a lovely surprise.. Magda is pregnant! She was in her third month in the summer and recently they knew it’s a boy.
The trip to Syria was not an easy one on Magda.. she put lots of efforts to keep up with us all in most of the trips, i could not resist taking this photo of poor Magda back then after we got back home from a horrible terrible trip to a beach house trip.. i told her i am taking a photo, not sure how conscious she was that moment, i wonder if she will remember when seeing the photo =)
We visited Maaloula on the way to Damascus where we spent few days.. Maaloula, the land of Aramia.. I sure will pay this place another visit in the future.. a small village built in the mountains..
and this is its famous monastery..
Magda resting..
and Deni pulling her hair out of excitement ;)
I like the funny perspective in the two photos above next to each other.. this was in the path behind the monastery.. reminded me of Petra
My vacation was for three weeks.. I do not think I would spend 3 weeks in Syria in the coming couple of years unless I have a fixed plan which is something I would probably do when I am there all alone..
back to Dubai.. a smoke break in some parking lot.
Tarek..
and Abood.. with too many things in his hand..
Fudo.. some back street hidden cafe that is always too busy.. i am not a big fan of this place, used to.. but got sick of it.. i must admit they serve good food.. and the guys got some VIP access there because they break records in going there few times a week.. damn!
the sushi bar under some spotlights..
Mister Jamal in some flashy orange shirt..
making a heart shape out of smoke.. this photo is not edited or retouched.. the shape is natural..
Who can beat Abood in this? no one.. not even himself ;)
and finally the notorious shisha.. or water pipe.
