The Charm of the Helios Lens

Using the Helios 44-2 lens on a Song a7III.

For a while now I had the Helios 44-2 lens (for those who may not now it’s an old Russian-made lens from the 80’s, you can find more information about it here). The lens itself is actually stuck on f/2, the aperture ring is locked somehow from dust or something and I can’t change it without having to do some disassembling. Nevertheless I got an adaptor for it and put it on my Sony a7III and went roaming around my neighbourhood in Marina, Dubai. While testing out the focus distance, I suddenly saw the fusion of the lights in the viewfinder and I fell in love. I have spent the last few months in a blah of a creative zone. I had no interest in picking up the camera, I was only just barely using my iPhone for random pictures and there was nothing inspiring for me. My creative will was on life-support since over a year probably and was dying ever slower with the weeks and months passing. Suddenly, from being so used to sharp and crisp, perfectly technical lighting, to intentional out-of-focus personal subjective art, I felt a little jolt come back into my mummified photography soul. Hopefully, after an almost 6year hiatus from this blog, I will be able to sting more life back into my work and will be sharing much more of my photography and thoughts with you on a regular basis.

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Sharing A View

‘Written in Nov.2014’ 

Why did I choose to place two chairs instead of one? I never noticed it till right now...  I put two chairs because a scene and sunset as this one and the mood as I was in, plus the emotions rushing through me was calling on me to share this view. A moment and experience such as that one on that day called on me to be shared. And I honestly don’t remember if I was thinking of anyone in particular then or just of you, my audience in general, but six months later from capturing this image, I know that deep down in subconscious, that there was what I must have been feeling. A feeling of sharing. That’s the thing with my pictures and moments. I want to share where I am visually, provoke in you what I, the capturer, was feeling when I clicked the shutter. I want, no actually I need you, to mimic my emotion of sharing at that moment.

Who do you see sitting in those two chairs? Are you even in one of them? Is it the sunset view or would it be just about the company? Who do you want to share this moment with?

Photograph was captured from the balcony of Father Fabian’s home, a priest caretaker of an old church in Mount Nebo, near the burial site of the prophet Moses, in Madaba, Jordan. May, 2014. 

Flashing the Milky Way

Can you comprehend that you are looking at something in the past? That object is so massive, so bright and so far that its light has taken 25,000 years to reach our tiny eyes. And we have the technology to capture that light and store it in a little frame. Concepts of space and time has always humbled me in such a way that I can't explain. And to be able to document that and fuse it with my passion for imagery and visuals has been my type of meditation in a way. I captured this photo a few weeks ago while camping in Wadi Rum with some friends. It was a New Moon, clear skies with no clouds and a crisp view of the Milky Way. The flashlight I'm holding up was, to me, an extra element to the photography that allows the viewer to make a connection between me, the group around the fire and the galaxy. Without it, I felt the photograph would not be as compelling or 'connective'. As if I'm lighting up the sky in a way. What do you think? What emotion does this image convey to you?

Camping under the Milky Way in Wadi Rum, Jordan.

Religion & Nature

I love landscapes and travel type of photography. Gives me a chance to explore my hometown and region where I'm from. My mission is to literally showcase the beauty of the middle-east region as much as I can. And so from constantly researching inspiration from landscape photographers online, I'm always mesmerised by photographs from Iceland, the Grand Canyon and other exotic places on every photographer's bucket list. And as much as I am proud of all the images I've captured from my two home-towns of Jordan and Lebanon mainly, this one image, taken at the Baptism site near the Jordan River stands out from my recent landscape photos. I was walking along the pathway looking for an angle and as I came upon this I saw it. A beautiful sunset, a religious structure, a bending body of water and luscious greenery. All the elements needed for a landscape image. To me, from a technical standpoint, the river leads my eyes from the bottom left towards the centre ending at the church. If this were anywhere else, I think it would be 'just another landscape' shot maybe, but because of its context knowing its in the location where Jesus Christ was baptised, so much intense history is suddenly added to it and brings about so many questions. That's one of the reasons I love photography, of the answers and beauty it gives yet the questions it adds as well.

Greek Orthodox Church by the Jordan River near the Baptism Site at the Dead Sea in Jordan

Pre-Visualisation and Hunting

In terms of landscape and travel photography, my process doesn’t begin until I lay my eyes on the viewfinder. I don’t think or sketch out an idea in my head or anywhere. I’m in a scene, in a moment and literally my process begins when I lift up my camera towards my right eye. That’s when I start. Kind of like a hunter on the look-out for a kill. It’s basically like that. There’s a quote that goes “Photographers are hunters, not cooks”. Meaning we’re not concerned with the critique and opinion after the image is captured. As much as I believe myself so, I try to be the hunter and the chef afterwards as I do care and would like to know how my audience perceives my photographs. In this image it was just like that. I got into the pool wondering what my shot is going to be and for a brief moment I saw the final photograph in my eyes while I was lifting my camera. My brain was instantly calculating the shutter speed, ISO and all the settings to get this picture. My fingers pressed buttons and rotated dials and 1 second later, I yelled to my three friends to “Please can you guys not move for 1.5seconds”… and they did so without responding or looking back. I knew they heard me and a second later I pressed the shutter. I took my kill and into the Photoshop kitchen I went. Slight highlight adjustments and saturation and voila. My aesthetic meal is served. Enjoy the view.