Subiya Desert (travel)

September 20, 2013

Friday Bird Hunt

Rainy days are coming! And so my Friday group photo buddies decided to visit Subiya desert area to check for migratory birds. It's a bit early to check as most of the migratory birds are only expected to show up once rainy season has started (probably late part of October). 

It was a long Journey from Salmiya to Subiya desert area, but this trip has been very enjoyable and a memorable one :) Route map Here
 

We reached a desert near the Bubiyan island and met a Kuwaiti family who hunts birds for their hobby.

A hunter kid

Kuwaiti Family hunters :P

In the beginning, we were hesitant in approaching them as they are all carrying guns and they might not like strangers and photographers talking to them! Luckily, the group we met are good people and they had welcomed and showed us all their bird hunting stuffs (guns, bird caller gadget, etc..). They own 2 falcons with them and they gave us chance to capture some images of the falcons.

During the photo shoot, they have offered us tea and showed us the meal of the day :P Yummy? :D

Lunch under process :P


 Ready to eat! :D

They were really friendly and they gave us their stuffs to play too. It was an awesome day and we had loads of fun other than photography. They also gave us some tips and information about birds (specifically about falcons). We were informed that falcons would normally appear before sunrise (at dawn) and will hide once the sun is up in the horizon.

It is amazing how the kids are so trained in loading guns and shooting birds. I have seen a young 6-8 year old kid loads a gun and shoots a target in no time :P
 

We bid our goodbye to the family and thank them for the warm welcome. Leaving the area, i was happy but then sad at the same time as I 'm not sure if it has really occur to them that they are posing a threat to different species of birds of which can lead to their extinction because of their hobby.

Walking back to our cars, I saw a nicely-shaped dead tree from the area as well (I'm calling it The Dragon tree :P). 

Fixing my car before leaving. Gas tank almost empty :P

Another day on October 11 2013

We did one more expedition to check for birds.

This time we went really early following the Kuwaiti hunter's advice. We left Salmiya at around 3:30am to reach the area in time with full of hopes to see even just one bird to shoot.

But as usual.. it was an empty trip for birds. :P We couldn't find any hunters or birds that day and so we decided to just stay there till the sunrise and have some sun rise shoots in the desert. (The weather was freezingggg that day by the way! :P)

Although we are not lucky enough to  find any birds, I was happy and satisfied with my lonely tree images and my friend's silhouettes.

Special Thanks to Manoj, Sandeep, Kiran and Karen for this wonderful trip. ;)

Al Hamra Tower visit - III

Oct 9, 2013

Once again I got a chance to visit the top floors of Al Hamra Luxury Center, the tallest tower in Kuwait. This time I had a chance to shoot in an open space / balcony of the 60th floor.

Actually it was a surprise visit and I was not aware whether the pass is available or not. I've always wanted to have an access to the top floor in an open area as I wanted to capture the wonderful views from above. A big thanks to all my friends for making it happen. I was a bit sad and frustrated during my previous visit as we only had an access to the 55th & 59th floors. I was not able to get nice photograph results because of the double layered glass walls. (Although we shoot in a dark area, some reflections are present and dirt marks are visible too)  You can check my previous visits here .

I was pretty happy for having this chance again to see Kuwait lighted in colors in an aerial view! I really enjoyed this visit not only with the photos I got but also the moments we had during the photo shoot. Not to mention the new good friends I met which made this visit more enjoyable.

The photo shoot was really quick, because I had several things to do after the visit and the allowed time was a bit less too. So I did some shots quickly and left the place for another days exploration.

Below are some of the evening shots I took:

Credits to all the cool security guys of Al Hamra Tower for giving us the access again :P

Startrail session - II by Q8 Expats Photography Club

This is indeed another successful event hosted by Q8 Expats Photography Club! Today i will be sharing my awesome experience once again with one of the best photography groups in Kuwait!

August 30, 2013 (Friday at 4:30 pm). I was very excited and geared up for my 2nd star trailing activity with Q8EPC. (See my first star trail post) The organizers had set 4th Ring road as the first meeting point of the event. It was originally scheduled to take place  in Salmi desert, however they end up choosing Umm Al Aish (Earth Station before the Gulf war in 1991) as the  location, mainly because the area has more foreground sceneries (Buildings, trees etc..) compared to Salmi desert. Route map to the location (from the meeting point to the destination).

The concepts of the event are pretty simple. It is mainly focused on 2 subjects as below;

1. Star Trailing

Star Trails are paths left by the stars, seen from the earth. As the earth spins, the stars appears to move and circle in the sky. We live in northern hemisphere, so Polaris (the north star) is in line with our axis of rotation and doesn't appear to move. Basically, you will need to keep the camera rolling for hours and let it take pictures of stars at preset intervals (I used 30 seconds interval in 3 1/2 hours and had a total of 375 shots for my star trail pic. ). Finally, you stack all the images and you get a sky filled with circular lines :)

2. Steel Wool Spinning.

Steel wool spinning is considered as one of the most exciting forms of Light Painting photography. An actual steel wool lighting demo was done later that night, and some of us had the chance to capture amazing images of which I will be showing below.

Moments of the meet up:

Adil Javed - Organizer

First meet up point with the Red bull team

GEAR

Below are the required gears for a Star Trail activity

1. DSLR Camera
2. A sturdy tripod
3. Cable release / Intervalometer
4. Extra batteries
5. High capacity memory card
6. Torch/Lights/Flash (for light painting)

Some useful tips:

1. Make sure your car battery is in good condition
2. Wear boots as the desert is unpredictable3. Bring a chair/mat to relax as its going to be a long night.

To capture perfect Star Trail image, the below components should be well understood, properly monitored and applied..

     1. Focusing
     2. Composition
     3. White Balance
     4. Single shot vs. Stacking

Below are some of the beautiful Star Trail images i have collected from the event;

Image courtesy of Adil Javed.. Thank you for the arrangements and guidance

My Star Trail Image

Image courtesy of Ishqification

Image courtesy of Manoj M. Olikara

Image courtesy of Misbah Hashmi

 

The stars will be visible as Photo..

 Light painting moments

   

   

 

 

The climate was great and we even felt a slight cool breeze later that night, which is never really expected in summer. The sky was so clear and no dust was present during the event.

Bonus Credits: I enjoyed the event a lot because I had the chance to meet my group mates again and  had spent enjoyable hours with my close supportive friends Manoj, Kiran & Karen...(Sandeep.. We miss you...)

Once again, Congratulations to Q8 Expats Photography Club! Hoping to have more successful events in the future!