Start of GPP2014

GPP2014, the biggest photo event in Dubai, started this week. The event is organized by Gulf Photo Plus who do tremendous job of bringing world class photographers and photography aficionados together to run workshops, seminars and panels. It is truly a fantastic event to attend if you love photography. Their website is Gulf Photo Plus.

This year I am getting to assist David Nightingale and we just finished his work called "Shoot the City". I am dead tired but I just had to post the start of the photography festival today so that there is some context for next set of posts on my blog for the next few days.

The week started with the launch of Gregory Heisler's 50 Portraits on thursday followed by photofriday - day of seminars given by the photographers visiting and running the workshops.

In one day, I met Zack Arias, Bobbi Lane, Joel Grimes, Gregory Hiesler, Eric Kim, RC Conception, Joe McNally and Steve Simon. And let's not forget David Nightingale. For passionate photographers, it was veritable feast to delight all senses.

This morning I had a very early start 4 am when I went out with David Nightingale to shoot the city. We went down to Jumeriah Beach, then to the DIFC followed by a sunset shoot at the Palm Jumeriah. I think I got a few good ones but I am too tired to edit anything right now so will post it later.

Off to "Shoot the Street" tomorrow - the day starts at 6 am for me.

Follow the events on twitter @saadiaxoxo, #gpp2014, @gulfphotoplus

It's a week to remember.

Street Photography Workshop with Zack Arias

Zack came down to run some workshops during the Gulf Photo Plus (GPP) Week. Along with his usual one light workshop, he's also added a street photography workshop. Leaving aside the fact that he is a fantastic teacher and absolutely hilarious, I did pick up some good tips. We went down to the souk to try out some of our newly acquired skills. The first hour was really spent watch Zack do his thing. After that, the group split to take shots on their own. He spotted these two baluchi men walking about the souk and asked them if he could take their portrait. Obviously all of us piled on the bandwagon so to speak but this was really his spot.

Walking around the souk during the afternoon was slow going. Most of the shops were closed for the afternoon but I managed to find this young shopkeeper enjoying a cup of tea outside his shop.

A few workers relaxing in a corner of the souk, generally chatting and catching up.

I somehow found myself in a little square inside the souk area. These two men were hanging out on the bench enjoying the afternoon warmth. I asked them if I could take a photo of them and while one of them agreed, the other one made quite a fuss. I still took the photo holding the camera just above waist level and quickly using my screen to frame the shot. This was one of my few "guerrilla" shots of the day and I was quite proud of it!

The group crossed to the other side of the sukuk using one the underground walkways. I took advantage of a lull in activities to shoot this frame.

Finally, at the end of the day, we met up again as a group to share images and get's Zack's viewpoint. It was a good day and I am looking forward to participating in the next GPP event in March 2014.

Photography Heaven

I have had an amazing week. Absolutely outstanding. The kind of days that I wish would come with more frequency. 7 days of complete immersion in photo workshops. I took the week off to participate in the Gulf Photo Plus photo week. 16 World famous photographers came down to conduct workshops.

David Hobby (of the Strobist Fame), Zack Arias (of One light Fame), David Nitingale, Bobbi Lane, Joe McNally...the list goes on.

I signed up for workshops every single day. I did one light flash with Zack Arias, street photography with David and Zack, The Art of Black and White Photography with David and Balancing Flash with Ambient Light with Bobbi Lane; 7 days non stop. My legs hurt. My back hurts and I have so much information to process, my head hurts.

It was like I died and went to Photography Heaven. Today was recovery day. Back to work tomorrow. (as the Americans say, that sucks big time).

Anyway, I will try and get myself back on track this week; I have to start working on the images for the P&P as well as finish the last assignment for DPP1. Still confused about what I am going to do there.

This is an image that I shot in Zack Arias's one light workshop. The vision was Zack's; the set up was Zack's; I was just grateful to be able to execute it. It was shot in color and then converted to black and white using conversion techniques taught by the the Master of digital post processing David J. Nightingale;

Can I repeat it?

You bet.

(This is not a high res file )