The girl, the wharf and the Mosque...

So, what has been happening this week for Alex JP Scott Photography? The answer is lots and very little really - yeah, I know that sounds odd, but it is the truth... We have had a house guest this week - Quinn's Godmother, Tricia (known as Tia) and that has been lovely. Tia is a very good friend of my wife (mine as well I hope) and Quinn adores her so needless to say, the week has flown by and as I speak she is sleeping in preparation for the flight home at 2:30am (guess who has to make the run to the airport at 12:00 midnight???!!!)

The presence of a house guest means normal life is suspended (I did have a tutorial on Sunday (more of that later)) but other than that very little work was done. However, the plus point was that we got to visit several "touristy" places and I got to shoot some images I wouldn't have done ordinarily. The final trip was to Dubai today where I finally managed to take a picture of my beautiful wife Lucy that she likes (it has only taken 10 years guys...)

I am happy with this and happy with the continued use of Light Room, which is excellent for processing - this picture has been treated with a little preset that gives this lovely softness to the image. Below is another, this time of our son, Quinn...

Both shots were taken in Dubai as I said, whilst we were eating lunch. The following image was taken at the same time - I saw it, loved the light and figured it would make a good advertisement... what do you guys think?

I have been doing quite a bit of experimentation with Lightroom and have had some good positive peer reviews of the following image, shot in the Grand Mosque last week on our tourist trip there...

Other shots taken in the Mosque that I was pleased with were...

The presets (created by me and downloaded from the web) are wonderful and have opened up a whole new world of image processing... see these below...

The muted colours on the first really give it an old, 1960's look, whilst the subtle tints on the second shot take you back further - to the 1920's...

All shots featured on today's blog were taken with a Nikon D2Xs DSLR plus Nikkor 28mm f2.8 AFD lens or Nikkor 85mm f1.8 AF-S lens.

So,what else have I been doing? Well, that is about it apart from my star pupil... She finally did her first pro shoot this week and apparently it went really well - client was happy with the pictures and hopefully now she can really start to live up to her promise... I haven't seen the results as yet - that pleasure will come on Tuesday... I can't wait...

Tomorrow, I get a day off and then start again on Sunday. The hotel shoot should be coming up soon, which should be interesting... fingers crossed for that.

And so for some nostalgia - to keep up the theme of showing pictures from different Emirates - here are some from Ras al Khaimah...

Hope you have enjoyed this blog... more to come next week. You can keep up with daily happenings HERE and I hope you all have a good week. Likes on Facebook would be very much appreciated...

TTFN

Nightswimming, deserves a quiet night...

It started off busy - first of all, I had a meeting and shoot on Sunday with local journalist Nick Leech. He is documenting the older buildings in Abu Dhabi, particularly the ones scheduled for demolition. I just record them for him - I think there will be a definitive work on these architectural curios later on this year (?). When you start to look around the city, especially with someone who really sees things, eyes start to be opened... it is fascinating to see just how the building styles have changed in 40-odd years...

An old building with workers looking for a job...

One of the old, single story houses, standing in the shadow of the more modern glass-fronted towers...

One of the sites we visited was an old military camp - all that remains is the entrance arch, beyond lies open, bare ground, complete with rolls of razor wire...

A good shoot with good company - hopefully some more to come...

So on Monday, I had part two of the Arabian Swim Academy promotional shoot. This one took place at Al Muna Primary School in the heart of Abu Dhabi. Now the funny thing was, when I walked into the school I could have sworn I had been there before - the layout, decor, everything looked so familiar. It suddenly dawned on me that I had been to an identical school at a different location... (yawn)

Now this shoot was a bit more tricky than part one at the Westin Hotel as it was under large sun shades - great for keeping the Arab Sun off delicate skin, but not so good when it comes to photography - I hope the client likes the images... a small selection...

Above - one of my personal favourites - taken with a Nikon D2Xs + Nikkor 80-200mm f2.8 AFD ED lens - this lens is just so sharp...

...and another favourite - this time with a Nikkor 85mm f1.8 G AF-S - fast becoming my go to lens for portraits... lovely bokeh.

 
Other shots can be seen on the clients' site - here Arabian Swim Academy.

The day after this I had a tutorial booked, that was unfortunately cut short as my student had to tend to her sick little girl - hope she gets better soon... This of course gave me time to edit the 600 or so shots from the swim academy shoot and to start getting to know Light Room 4 - a photo organising and processing programme that works nicely alongside Photoshop CS6. Having played with it for a few days and watched several tutorials on line I am getting used to it. It is a great programme and makes this sort of thing easy...

This is a black and white conversion with an infra red filter... I just love the glow...

This, on the other hand has an old film feel to it - almost sepia but the blue of the floats and the pink on the lane markers gives it a great antique feel...

Now we have a guest next week - a much loved family friend and Quinn's Godmother; so more tourist duties for me - maybe some shots will get into the blog next week... I also have a hotel shoot in Dubai fast approaching - just awaiting confirmation on that. In addition we have to find somewhere to live in Cambridge
 - the house we thought we had found has fallen through so we are back to square one...

Finally, the Mosque Photo Competition finally ended this week, although the date was extended as they had computer problems - so let's hope my images haven't been lost...

Oh yes, I was posting some older shots - so here is a selection from Sharjah...

A rocket launcher set amongst the art galleries and museums...

  A street view...

Interior of the brilliant Sharjah Museum of Arabic Civilisation...




















Hope you all have a good week - keep tuned HERE for daily updates and I shall see you all next week I hope...

TTFN

Swim said the Mama fishy, swim if you can...

It's a funny old game this photography lark... sometimes you have loads of work, sometimes not, sometimes you feel inspired, sometimes you don't, sometimes you take what you think is a great image only for others to ignore it, whilst other times you post a nondescript image only for many people to seemingly like it... you see, it is impossible to tell, just what is going to make the grade. All you can do is keep putting the pictures out there and wait to see...  This Thursday was the deadline for the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque Photography Competition - as you may be aware I have been looking to enter this and revisiting the site several times in an effort to capture something definitive, original, captivating.  I read that last year they had 5,000 entries - with each photographer being able to submit 6 images each, that is potentially 30,000 images - that was last year... how many will enter this year? Look at those figures... somehow one of my images has to stand out amongst all those... good luck to me...

Now this one wasn't submitted but it is one of my favourites - I do like the gold, blue and white, the shapes and the patterns...maybe I was wrong not to submit? I will never know..

With that out of the way, I was able to concentrate on more important matters - namely a shoot for the Arabian Swim Academy - a brilliant company that teaches people to swim using various pools around the city.  On Sunday I was at the Westin Hotel, shooting the babies class. Great fun was had watching the mums and dads with their little ones enjoying the water under the watchful eye of Melissa, the instructor/owner. I loved the light on the water and the smiles...

Next Monday I will be at Al Muna, shooting the older boys and girls as they go though their paces... that I am looking forward to...

This shoot was followed on Tuesday by a tutorial; you know, my pupil is really improving in leaps and bounds, she has a great eye and has been experimenting with using a light ball - the images look great and once we sort out the ISO problems will look even better. It is really rewarding to see someone blossom... All she needs is confidence... Next week w are meeting at The Heritage Village for a shoot and more practice with her new camera...Stay tuned for how that goes.

So, what else did I get up to? Well after a trip to sort out our car rental, I bumped into an old friend - a freelance journalist, whom I haven't seen for a while... I saw him from a distance and couldn't resist a few "pap" shots...

Well, he has an ongoing project to document the older buildings in Abu Dhabi and we have agreed to meet up on Sunday to shoot some more of them - I did some for him this time last year (crikey, was it that long ago?) so that is another shoot I am looking forward to...
















I also had to make a trip into town for other reasons and took the opportunity to do some street shots - wandering around the back streets of Abu Dhabi you really see a different side to this place...

Far removed from the posh cars and swish tower blocks... My personal favourite is the last one... I wonder what time he started work...

Now, I have been showcasing some archive shots from our time here and mentioned some from a visit to other places in the UAE, so today here are some shots from Al Ain - a city within the Abu Dhabi Emirate with a great oasis...

The oasis, with date palms and traditional irrigation channels...

The plantations are linked by a series of paved roads, these also provide a great place to walk in the cool shade...

 A series of gates and paths also run between the palms giving foot access to the irrigation systems...

And this is what it is all about - the production of dates...






























So, that about wraps it up for this week... updates as usual HERE and I hope to see you all next week...

In the mean time...

TTFN