Beautiful seascape in the Gulf of Oman
Out on a rocky outcrop from the fishing village in the Mussanah area.
PhotographyTravel Photography Blog
Brendan van Son·
PhotographyTravel Photography Blog
·

Introducing Oman in Focus and some Images from Day 1

I know, I know.  My site stats over the past couple days have reminded me how terrible I’ve been about posting over the past week.  The truth is I’ve been out of my mind busy with a number of things.  Not only is Vagabundo Magazine due up for another copy of goodness at the end of this month, but I’ve been away on a 10-day press assignment in Oman.

Oman, Portrait

I’m a part of a group of 14 amazing photographers from around the world on an intensive photography tour of one of the Gulf’s most interesting countries.  The group contains some really interesting characters including one of the world’s top landscape and nature photographers, a Nat Geo Creative Photographer, a couple award winning portrait photographers, and loads of other talented people.  In this industry, it’s easy to get a bit cocky about your work.  However, when you find yourself in the presence of some of these people, you can’t help but be completely humbled.

The end of the Oman in Focus tour will have us showing off some of our work at the Opera House Gallery in Muscat which will be a massive honour.  I’ve not had my work shown off in that type of spotlight before, and I have to say that I’m pretty intimidated by it all.  If you are in Muscat at some point in the near future, be sure to head to the Opera House and check out some of the work from the various artists, you won’t regret it.

Anyways, the trip started with a lot of portrait-style photography, so I’ll leave a couple of those images with you here.  Be sure to stay tuned over the next couple days for some more images of Oman.

Oman, Portrait
This is actually the first subject I shot. I got to use my newly learned phrase of “Momken Asawarek”, or something like that, which means may I take your photo in Arabic.
Boy playing in Oman Village
Up in a mountain village, I ran into these kids who didn’t want their photo taken. When I held up the camera, they ran away laughing only to keep peeking out. I turned it into a game of hide and go photograph.
Boys in an Omani mountain village
In the end, the kids loved it and ended up posing for photos willingly. The most important aspect of a great portrait is building a relationship with your subject.

 

A woman in Oman leaving her home.
An Oman woman from the same village leaving her house.
At the entrance to Nakhal Fort, Oman
At Nakhal Fort in the middle of the day. Fairly impressive place.
From the top of Nakhal Fort, Oman
The view from the top of Nakhal Fort.
An Omani man sleeping on his steps in the heat of the day.
This man was in the perfect scene, I couldn’t help but stop the car and go and photograph him. I have a couple shots from this, including one of my favourites which you’ll find on my facebook page: http://www.fb.com/thetravelwriter
A mosque in a village of Oman
No idea what town this mosque was in, but as the sun was going down behind it, it made for a nice shot.
A man walks past a mosque in Oman
An old man leaves the mosque.
Kids pose for photos in an Omani fishing village
For sunset, we raced to an old fishing village back along the coast of Oman near Mussanah. These kids begged us to take their photo, so we graciously complied.
Beautiful seascape in the Gulf of Oman
Out on a rocky outcrop from the fishing village in the Mussanah area.
Beautiful seascape in the Gulf of Oman
I think this is one of the photos I’ll be showing off at the exhibition in the opera house in Muscat! But, we will have to wait and see.