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The yearly GPP photography event here in Dubai is about to start tomorrow and just like the last couple of times, David and I managed to go out shooting trying a new location. Our aim was to shoot the Abu Dhabi skyline, but as we were driving towards the capital city through a strong sandstorm we realized the chances of doing that were very slim, since we couldn’t really see 100 meters in front of us, let alone the Abu Dhabi skyline.

A quick change in plans took us to the Abu Dhabi harbour where all the fishing dhows leave from. It’s a strange place with a lot boats, fishermen and some strange shisha cafes. The light was not that good, the wind was blowing and I personally only got one maybe two usable shots, but overall it was an interesting place. The image below is of one of the fisherman hanging around his dhow and I quite like his expression in this one.

To view the original shot (straight from the camera) visit the blog entry here: www.momentaryawe.com/blog/?p=3329

While in Tromsø, in the North of Norway, we managed to arrange for a night of camping in a traditional Sami tent. Sami are the Arctic indigenous people inhabiting parts of the far North of Norway, Sweden and Finland. As you can imagine, they have lived there for a very long time so their way of life has adapted to the snow and cold found at this latitude. More on the camping on a later post, so on with today’s story…

Transport can obviously be a bit of challenge when everything is covered in a thick layer of snow and the two traditional ways of overcoming this are the snowshoes and the dog pulled sleds. I haven’t tried the snowshoes, but I did get on a sled for a nice 10km ride. The dogs that pull these sleds in Norway are especially bred for endurance and speed and they are a mix between huskies and other breeds. They are incredibly cute and always ready to go pull a sled. Whenever the dogs are picked for the next trip, the place descends into a barking and howling madness as every single dog wants to be picked. It literally sounds like they all say “Pick me! Pick me!”.

To view the original shot (straight from the camera) visit the blog entry here: www.momentaryawe.com/blog/?p=3325

I would really appreciate if you don't invite me to all the groups or post comments with huge images that take half a page.

As you might have noticed the updates on the site over the last 10 days where non-existent as I’ve spent last week traveling through Norway… A few days in Hemsedal snowboarding and a few days 400km above the Artic Circle in Tromsø looking for the northern lights. I have always wanted to see the northern lights and Tromsø is one of the best places in the world for this, because it’s right in the middle of the Aurora belt, a belt that circles the globe where the probability of seeing the northern lights is the highest.

I’ve imagined many times how would the lights look, but to be honest nothing prepares you for the actual show. It’s very hard to describe how cool it all looks. It’s like someone has got dimmer switches for the entire sky, playing with the light, moving it from place to place, casting a green glow over everything. We saw the lights two nights in a row, but the last night, while in the middle of this forest the show was at its best. The whole sky was lit up, while the few clouds passing by (visible on the right side of the image) where lit up by the village lights below.

To view the original shot (straight from the camera) visit the blog entry here: www.momentaryawe.com/blog/?p=3320

Just like I promised in my previous post, today I’m posting one of my favourite desert shots in a while, which was also taken this weekend. As you can see it’s a very simple shot, but I think that’s why I like it so much. The lines are so simple and there’s just a hint at the top of the wind that was blowing the sand from the top of the dune. Even the post-processing was minimal with only one curve to add some contrast between the light and dark areas.

On another note, expect some winter images soon as on Friday I’ll make my way to Norway for a week for some snow boarding and some northern lights spotting (I’ll say this again – the lights better show up)!

To view the original shot (straight from the camera) visit the blog entry here: www.momentaryawe.com/blog/?p=3309

Those of you following me on Twitter or Instagram (or even following the blog for the last few weeks) might have noticed that I have been going to the desert quite a few times in the last few weeks to try and build up my portfolio in that area. Although I’m still not 100% happy (except for one shot which I really like and which I will be posting in the next few days!) with what I got so far, I think it’s getting better and tonight while in the dunes close to Al Ain I thought I’ll experiment a bit.

Since the area is fairly dark, I wanted to try and capture some of the dunes with the mountains in the background and the night sky full of stars. The air was a little bit hazy, but at 30 seconds exposure and ISO800, the stars really start to shine. I will definitely go back to the area to experiment some more, but for now I would be happy to hear what you think.

To view the original shot (straight from the camera) visit the blog entry here: www.momentaryawe.com/blog/?p=3304