Fireworks...

I was in Dubai when the biggest fireworks display ever for the inauguration of the "Atlantis" hotel happened.

They filled the Palm island with fireworks. It was quite amazing, although I have to admit, that being there and seeing it on television - filmed from a helicopter - was not quite the same.

I chose this one picture because I like the color and the fact that you have the silhouette of the construction equipment, an ever-present item in the Dubai landscape.

This picture was taken with a digital SLR.

Power cables...

I have this strange connection to power cables. I don't really consider myself to be a documentary photographer, but I do love to take pictures of power cables. Go figure...

This picture was taken in Dubai and sunset. I was in a middle of a cab ride from hell, that took almost two hours. I used a digital SLR and a fast lens, a 50mm f1.4.

The cook...

I like photographing people without them noticing. It's what we look like, when we think nobody's watching.

This gentleman cook was sitting in Cairo airport. He looked bored out of his mind. I always wonder what people are thinking.

This picture was taken with a digital SLR.

Endless...

This picture was taken at Frankfurt airport. There is a big connecting tunnel that seems neverending. Very much like some trips I sometimes have to take.

I sometimes imagine that one day, tunnels such as these will take us directly into our destinations. No planes involved.

This was taken with a digital SLR from the very begining of this tunnel. It was later treated digitally into BW.

The missing link...

This picture was taken in Cairo's citadel. Not knowing what I was getting myself into, I started waiving at a group of kids as they were passing by me. As they passed, I took some photos.

This one was the shot I liked the most. I took me some time to notice that the kid in the forefront is missing half a finger. Anyway, this doesn't seem like enough to affect him, or his happiness. He certainly is quite keen on showing it to the camera.

This made me think that sometimes we feel miserable for stupid reasons, and surely - even though it's not the worst handycap one can have - a missing finger would be on a top priority list for self-comiseration.

No animal I've ever known has ever felt sorry for himself. Or thought that not having legs, eyes, whatever, was reason enough to stop living. Sometimes, I feel we could be more like them.

This picture was taken with a digital SLR, a Canon 400D.

Taking you back...

Seeing I've been taking pictures for some time now, it was not easy selecting the first picture.

As this is my version of dedicating my creative efforts to photography, I've decided upon a photograph - albeit not being my favourite, or best photo - that represents a photo that makes me feel.

This picture was taken in Cairo, with a very old camera. I took this with my Lomo Lubitel medium format camera. It is not what can be described as "tack sharp", however it does have strong connection to what taking pictures is about.

It represents a bus stop, where someone is waiting for transportation (or maybe just resting). In the back you see some arabic writing (no idea what it says). I like the silhuette, perfectly still, against the bustling traffic of Cairo.

I have five or six cameras, of various formats (35mm, medium 120, digital) and I love the immediacy and quality of digital, don't get me wrong. But film... film takes me back to a place where developing the pictures and seeing them for the first time in your hand (maybe weeks of months after they were taken), was remembering what you were doing, where you were.

That piece of paper in your hand, it takes you back.

I also like the analog feel of film. You never really know what you're going to get. Not exactly, at least. And you gotta love that!

I feel that digital makes you feel impatient. The immediate feedback is something that puts you in a place where you want to take perfect pictures, releganting to the second place the picture you saw in your mind and making you focus completely on whether it's perfect.

Forget perfect, forget technique, put the picture first.

Enjoy, comment, whatever...