The first thing that I noticed when I arrived here yesterday was how busy it was for an early Tuesday morning (2:50AM). Well here is 10:45PM on a Tuesday night, this is complete stand still traffic. I had to black out the hotel name across the street to be able to share this.
THE VERY FIRST PLACE I VISIT IN DUBAI IS...
Of all places, what is the very first place that I decided to visit here in Dubai? A camera store! Not by choice but because I forgot my cleaning kit at home (and this is a must), so I looked up camera store's nearby and there happened to be one just a 25 minute walk from my hotel. So I took a stroll down to the store and got a good feel for many of the little shops and business's here.
There were SO MANY great images and a few spectacular ones that I saw along the way, that I wish I could have captured but I didn't bring my camera with me because I am right across from the police station and didn't want to take a chance. Mom and pop shops, alley ways, cyclists proudly working on their jobs, shop owner's doing their craft, shop owner's relaxing and enjoying the dry heat. It was all there and it would have been pure heaven for street photographer purists.
The driving here is umm unique to say the least. I've never seen so many drivers burn right through so many red lights and failing to stop for pedestrians while nearly hitting them. This is not a city that I would want to be jaywalking in.
That brings me to the well known Burj Al Arab Hotel here in Dubai. It's arguably the most iconic symbol that everyone want's to look for and capture when visiting this city. I initially did consider making my way down to this beach that this hotel is settled on and capturing it with the ocean waves but it's been done a million times by a million people. Instead, if I was given the option, I would much rather go inside and have a tour to see the state of the art architecture which of course includes those $4000+ per night rooms.
I'm just patiently waiting for the sun to come down as I am hoping I can get something magical from a specific location tonight.
I AM HERE IN DUBAI.
I made it! It is 3:00AM here in Dubai and I will be going right to bed as I've now been up for more than 44 hours straight. It was a struggle at times getting through today but I wanted to suspend my sleep until I arrived in Dubai, so that I immediately go on their clock. That and I couldn't sleep on the plane with a crying child the entire way.
I landed just past midnight but it took me over 2 hours to get out of the airport and on the road. I had some issues with Dubai airport security and me having all this camera gear but after some time of me telling my story eventually they let me go. Hopefully that won't be a reoccurring incident. That is one beautiful but chaotic airport.
The back to back 8 hour flights was a challenge for me as I generally can't sit in one position for that long. There were definitely others on the same flight as me heading to Dubai for the Dubai International Horse Fair and even the Dubai World Cup.
It is also illegal to take any pictures in Dubai with any people in them and post them publicly without their consent as you will get fined and can get sued, so I will need to be extremely careful and this will limit what non-equestrian stuff I can take pictures of over the next two weeks.
There is one area (photojournalism) in certain villages of Dubai that I had on my list to do but I am not sure if I will be able to do it anymore. I will see what I can come up with.
Will followup tomorrow with more stuff.
Here we go! Day 1 of 16 travel days. With the much stricter weight restrictions for carry-on's on international flights, it took a lot of experimenting to get my carry-on within the 26lb limit for KLM but with lots of weighing on the scale, some more sacrifices made, I thankfully managed to match the limit without sacrificing any of my originally planned camera gear because that is the one area that I can only sacrifice so much before it affects the potential of your work.
It was so tight to get my carry-on down to the 26lb limit, that I will have to carry my batteries in my coat pocket. As someone who needs to haul a good amount of camera gear, travelling internationally will always require many more compromises to be made on the packing list.
I'm really looking forward to seeing the Amsterdam airport as I've heard nothing but great things about it.
TRAVELING TO AMSTERDAM.
Here we go! Day 1 of 16 travel days. With the much stricter weight restrictions for carry-on's on international flights, it took a lot of experimenting to get my carry-on within the 26lb limit for KLM but with lots of weighing on the scale, some more sacrifices made, I thankfully managed to match the limit without sacrificing any of my originally planned camera gear because that is the one area that I can only sacrifice so much before it affects the potential of your work.
It was so tight to get my carry-on down to the 26lb limit, that I will have to carry my batteries in my coat pocket. As someone who needs to haul a good amount of camera gear, travelling internationally will always require many more compromises to be made on the packing list and a different configuration altogether.
I'm really looking forward to seeing the Amsterdam airport as I've heard nothing but great things about it.
FLASHBACK TO ALMOST A YEAR AGO TODAY.
Remember this boy from last May?! His name is Blitz and he was just a day old in these two pictures that I took of him last May. Well look and him now! They sure grow up quick. Thank you Lisa Janssen for the update on him and his mama. I always love hearing updates.
A SPECIAL DONATION AT THIS YEAR'S MANE EVENT IN RED DEER, ALBERTA.
Next month at the Mane Event in Red Deer, AB I will be donating a piece of my Equine Wall Art in 20x30" canvas framed, a value of $750.00CDN, to one of the nonprofit exhibitors (who I fully support) to be used as a charitable piece in a DRAW.
Even going way back well outside of the Equestrian world, I have always been a big supporter of nonprofit organizations. They support a good cause and you set a good example in the community.
If you are attending the Mane Event in Red Deer next month, you will have a 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗖𝗘-𝗧𝗢-𝗪𝗜𝗡 this piece of Equine Wall Art to take home.
With that being said, I have concluded that it will be one of these three pieces and honestly, I could flip a coin as to which one gets selected as it's a toss up. There is a similarity among the three images but each have it's own unique message.
So I will let you all decide on which gets printed and framed. Vote by liking your choice or commenting 1, 2 or 3. Thanks in advance. :)
