THROUGH THE LOCAL LENS

“Our first public workshop will be held on the 16th of October, exploring and shooting Dubai landmarks by our lenses. You can shoot by any camera between mobile cameras and the professional one's, you can also share with us your thoughts and knowledge about photography even if you are a beginner, intermediate or a professional photographer.”

A non-profit group called UShare had floated this invitation on Facebook. I stumbled upon it while looking for activities and workshops happening in Dubai. What caught my attention was their very artistic website. I would love to be part of something like this I thought. But I harbored some hesitation. Its members were largely Arabs, even if expats and mostly men. Was it a right decision? Was I ready for this leap?

I have been travelling in and out of Dubai like a jet set corporate honcho, living out of suitcases. I have not been able to explore Dubai beyond its malls and food courts. I had a handful of friends who were actually Jo’s friends, from his workplace and I knew no Arabic to get into the local circuit. I wanted more than anything to get a feel of the place through the people who have known UAE as its home or atleast been here long enough to grow some roots. Dubai wouldn’t feel like home I realized if I lived my ghetto existence and hobnobbed only with the selected office/bong/army groups. I wanted to spread my wings and grow some roots - blend with the sky and sand - to feel and love this place before I called it my home. I was still in the shifting- the- furniture-for-the-coziest-look mode. I needed to dabble with a few variables to be able to fit into the puzzle - and I wanted to fit into it as snug as a bug in the rug.

A quick call to Khaled , one of the organizers removed any little doubt I had in my mind. His warm reassuring voice also triggered a sense of adventure in me. These were not just passionate photographers but professionals working with no less that DMTV. I could sense a huge door opening up before me.  I knew somehow this experience would be a great milestone in my life. I would also have my first set of Arab friends. I was more than excited.

Sharp at 3pm, Oct 16th, Jo, the girls, Kunal( my cousin) and I walked into the foyer around the cascading waterfall in the Festival city. No one there. We looked suspiciously at anyone with a camera and wondered if they were also new members like us. I had noted a list of 109 confirmed guests on FB and so there was no way I could miss such a huge gathering - but where were they? Finally where a huddle seem to concentrate and form a knot I spotted a couple of SLR’s - A group of young boys,they didn’t look like tourists either.

“Hi I am Jaya. Are you part of UShare?” YES there were!!! Ah! what a relief even if they were just  a handful -15 to be precise but that was perhaps just the right number to start a fresh group. I was the only foreigner and a woman but that didn’t seem to bother any of us. There was an easy flow of sharing and in no time we felt like a bunch of old friends.

These were some amazingly creative guys. None of them were over 30 and some as young as fresh graduates. All had some designing/photography background and most were working in Dubai as web designers, interior designers, TV animation designers and video experts. I had started my career as a photo journalist and photography has always been passion. Kunal too was an avid lover of photography but we were the only two real novices I realised.

The unstructured workshop that followed took us through a series of activities. After the initial introduction we were asked to take mug shots of members. This was followed with a thematic group picture - which had to capture a definite feeling. My theme was "last day of college” - The main pic with this post.

Adam, Khaled and Omar educated us on a number of technical details of filming and photograpy betwen the shots. For instance I learnt when you want to focus on a beam of light coming through a high window in a dimly lit room, if you burn a paper and let its smoke waft up, the dust in the light beam gets more prominent and can give a very sharp image of the beam. Again if you want to catch the smoke of a cigarette and the focus of the picture is that, one must make sure there is enough light behind the smoke (opposite the lens). Omar said when he has to shoot in a dark room he wets the walls and floor to have the little light he uses to be reflected back. Everyone agreed with Kunal that techniques were important for a good picture but without a passion for photography and a desire to capture the feelings we may reach nowhere.

Our next destination was the Heritage Village, in Bur Dubai. We were supposed to get a lecture from a famous camera man from Kahleej Times there but it fizzled out at the last minute as he had to rush for another appointment. The group however didn’t feel too upset. The experiments continued. I missed the challenge of shooting with an SLR but learnt a great many functions of my digicam. I also saw how meticulously compositions were created, how the in -focus and out- focus decided, and a particular mood captured by changing the placement of the camera.

Adams showed how the “feeling” of a picture changed completely even when its protagonist had the same expression on its face. He posed for a series of pics where his expression remained unchanged but the objects around him were played around with.

Khaled took an amazing picture of Shihab peeping out of the crack in the wall, looking like a spy…But to get the mood right he made me click my digcam from the opposite side for a little red effect. It was an amazing shot.

Time flew. When I looked at the watch it was already eight in the evening. Jo and the girls were enjoying a walk beside the Creek all the while. I had to get back and get the dinner ready, but none of us wanted to say goodbye. “We have to take this group forward. We have to get many new members and we must meet often,” we seemed to be unanimous.

Inshallah this is great beginning for Ushare. I am just so thrilled to be among its first few members. Despite the unstructured approach of the workshop there was certain energy in the air that made the experience worth it. I came back feeling buoyant, with a spring in my walk… I could feel a metamorphosis happening. Dubai was getting under my skin, or was it the other way round? The pseudo barriers/hesitation of language, religion and community had totally dissolved in the urge to create something new - to see and appreciate things not as a Jordanian, Syrian, Indian or Palestinian but just as an artist.

I cannot thank Shihab and Khaled enough for giving me this platform to make my first inroad in Dubai and meet such a fabulous bunch of talented people - but more importantly for giving me a new lens to see the world around me, afresh...