Place of Dreams

Almost a year after, here I am with another post. Been very busy the past year, so I apologize for the lack of update. Thankfully I have a very long and dull holiday vacation (almost a week celebration of eid al adha) so I have some time to post. 

Recently I went outside of my comfort zone and attended two worldwide photo walks held here in Bahrain. The first one was sponsored by 500px last October 5.

                                                                                                     

Walking Away

This was my first time to try street photography. I usually take photos of nature/landscape, food and of course, my family and friends. I found out about this event while I was browsing some posts in the Bahrain Photography Club in facebook. I wasn't even sure if I'll go or not because I am not usually keen on trying out new things.

Shoemaker

I decided to go anyway thinking that this might be a good way to break free from my very mundane routine. So I asked my father to drop me in the event. I didn't know anyone there but fortunately there were some Filipinos also who attended.

Mentor

The shoot was set on Manama, the capital of Bahrain. Around 30 or 40 photographers attended so the group was subdivided into smaller ones, my group (with the group of Filipino photographers "Barkadahan sa Potograpiya") was assigned to go to the old neighborhood on the left side of the souq.

Bearded Man

I was uncomfortable at first because I don't know which subjects to shoot, what settings on my camera to choose (not to mention I was really envious of the cameras they brought to the shoot, they had good quality SLRs and lenses) and which way to go.

Hip shot

But after a while of observing how my group mates take their shot, I just let go of my fears and started taking photos. And slowly I just found myself being one with the street and with my camera.. *Click* after *click* of my shutter capturing pictures of people and just about anything which I found interesting.

What's going on?

I had fun interacting with the locals. Some were very active, they were posing for the camera, asking for more photos and telling that it wasn't their best angle. We even met one man who took her grand daughter from his home so that we could take her photo.

Little star of the walk

It was a good experience. I am very thankful that I decided to come. I met new people, took a lot of photo memories and learned new things about photography and the life here in Bahrain.. Indeed, Manama is a place of dreams.

-Abi.