Ice Hockey in the Desert.

This was the first ice hockey game I'd ever seen. Go Vipers. Foolishly thought I'd be able to get some great action shots. In fact, I didn't even know where to point the camera. Far, far too fast for me. Of all the shots I took (not that many as I soon gave up), this was the only keeper.

Nizwa

I think one of the best things about Al Ain is the location; practically empty highways to Dubai & Abu Dhabi, a great mountain road to the diving sites on the east coast, and it's nowhere near Sharjah. Even better, it's on the border with Oman. These are all from the town of Nizwa ....

Beirut

In January '05, I spent a few days in Lebanon. I used Beirut as a base and visited Baalbek, Byblos and Beiteddine (too many B's?). Compared to Al Ain, it was cold and cloudy - ended up taking shots mostly of buildings...

.... and some of Baalbek. I took a lot of the ruins, which came out ok, but I could've bought postcards instead. They weren't the ones I went back to look at again.

Some more sand. I haven't changed the colours - it was taken at sunset. I've been finding it difficult to take the shots I want - there's always a camel-fence or electricity pylons or phone wires in the way...

The top one was taken at sunrise in the winter. The next was a very windy day at the camel race track in al Ain.

The trees photo was taken just outside Al Ain on the way to Dubai, a couple of weeks ago. I've done this trip dozens of times over the last 3 years, though I'd never seen this view. I went back as soon as I could to photograph it. How had I missed it? Maybe my eyes had been refreshed by the long summer break?

Okay, not technically UAE scenery. This was taken during a hike in the mountains around Buraimi with the Al Ain chapter of the Emirates Natural History Group (http://www.enhg.org/).

A Day at the Races

The camel race track at Sweihan, about 45 mins from my flat. By this time I'd replaced the kit lens with a 70-300mm and a 50mm prime. The IS on the zoom was amazing. All these shots were hand-held.

I tried to post the last one at a much larger size but it didn't work out - I like the fact that all the shebab, driver included, are hanging out of the doors. Three of these shots were submitted to a photojournalist comp at Gulf Photo Plus and I won a day's workshop with David Nightingale, the results of which will be posted later. I'm still wading though the hundreds of shots I took recently in Yemen.

This was taken at dawn in Liwa, on the edge of the Empty Quarter. It's one of many and I'll be adding more UAE landscape shots to this link. I'd finally gotten round to getting a tripod. I just wish I'd read this essay beforehand...(http://bythom.com/support.htm) The one I'd bought had a pan/tilt head - and it was the one piece of equipment that regularly p'd me off. Still, I used it for three years; until I could afford an upgrade. This shot was taken using the 'kit' lens.

Al Ain, UAE

Now I'm living and working in Al Ain, UAE - been here for over three years now. Here are a couple of my early photos of the town-centre oasis and the (only) overpass at sunset. I'll add more to this page if / when I get some shots I like.

Falconry and sheesha pipes.

Mosque construction in Al Ain.

I read on The Online Photographer about some of the differences between 'amateur' and 'pro' blogs. I'd include the link but I can't access the site from home, only at work, which is really inconvenient given the nature of one of the ads. Anyway, amateur blogs evidently have a bit of everything - weddings, sunsets, family, pets. So here's the first, and last, pet shot on this blog. Taiwanese street cat, relocated to the desert; Jet.