Category: Photography

I ordered an adapter online that would allow me to mount my Nikon lenses on my GF1 camera. First thing I did when I got the adapter was to mount the gigantic Nikon 80-200mm f/2.8 lens onto the GF1 which as you can see above looked ridiculous since the GF1 is so tiny.

So far I really love the GF1, I think it’s my favorite camera ever. My next purchase for it is going to be the digital viewfinder which should make it look pretty ugly but in a good way. [Amazon Link]

I was wondering around tonight when I stumbled across an old photography store. Some pictures in the display grabbed my attention and when I looked inside I spotted an old man sitting reading the Koran and two other interesting photos. I decided to go in and check the photos out and I ended up spending around an hour there talking to the old man.

I won’t mention the photographers name or the shop location since I want to give him his space and privacy but he’s a Lebanese guy who ran away from an abusive father and took the bus and came to Kuwait in 1959. He hasn’t left since… not even once. He worked a variety of jobs here and there and in the end became a journalist and took some really great photos, some of which many of us have come across in one point in time or another. He ended up opening up his own photography shop and it’s been there ever since. Today the shop doesn’t sell anything, he doesn’t have any customers nor even a store sign. He broke the sign ages ago because to keep it up he would have to pay a fee of KD25 a year which he didn’t want to. He sold all his negatives to a newspapers years ago for KD200 and has a few photos he kept which he was selling framed for KD25 a piece but someone bought his photo and then made copies and started selling them for KD1 so that income stopped.

While there I spotted some old cameras behind an extremely dusty display that looked like it hadn’t been open since the 80s and my God what a beautiful camera collection. He had cameras from the 70’s and early 80’s still boxed brand new! He even had the beautiful rangefinder Konica S3 from 1974 which I had purchased used off eBay for KD60 last year, except he had a brand new one all boxed up and priced at KD45! He also had two brand new Nikon F3’s from 1980, a Vivitar 35EE, a Vivitar 35EF, Mamiya 135AF and boxed up Hasselblad but I couldn’t tell what model it was. I really want to buy them all but I don’t think he wants to sell them. He’s pissed off at the whole world, he’s depressed, he’s really old and he doesn’t want to sell anything. He told me 5 months ago his residency expired and he’s now living in Kuwait illegally. He feels that he’s been forgotten and no one cares about him or remembers him. How could someone who’s been in Kuwait for 50 years non stop still require an ikameh to live here? It made me realize that if I lose my job tomorrow I would have to leave Kuwait as well except I am young and I could always move to Lebanon and start a new life or something but this old man, where would he go? He’s easily at least 80 years old, he doesn’t have any family, never married, no relatives and he hasn’t been to Lebanon in over 50 years neither does he want to go back…

I had to leave but told him I would come back again since I wanted to listen to his life story and maybe give him some recognition with my blog. I also promised him the next time I go back I would bring my laptop along since I was telling him about the Internet and he told me he had heard about it but had no idea what it was. I told him I would come back and show him since he seemed eager to know how it worked and who invented it and how it looked. I asked him what time to what time I could find him at the shop he told me 24 hours. Turns out he lives in the shop.

A Bahraini blogger called Aysha was surprised to find out that not only did Al-Qabas newspaper steal one of her pictures and publish it in the newspaper but that the picture they stole was a picture of herself. She was completely shocked and surprised to find her picture plastered in Al-Qabas and now wonders if there is anything she can do. She has a full write up on her blog which you can check by clicking this [Link]

Sadly I doubt there is anything she can do about this and we all know this isn’t the first time that Al-Qabas uses pictures without permission.

My new camera arrived in the mail today, the Panasonic GF1 (pictured above next to my Konica rangefinder). It’s a micro four-thirds camera which mostly means it has a larger sensor than point and shoot cameras and also has interchangeable lenses. I ordered my GF1 with the bright 20mm f1.7 prime lens and I think this will be the only lens I will be using with the camera.

The reason I got this camera is because I was looking for one that would help inspire me to take more pictures. I don’t feel comfortable carrying my D90 around everywhere and the Canon G11 picture quality was lacking compared to my D90. I think the GF1 lies somewhere in between the two.

First thing I did when I picked up my camera was pass by this place next to my house and take pictures. One of my favorite features in the camera is that it allows me to take pictures in the square format. Below are some of the pictures I took earlier today.

I purchased the Panasonic GF1 from Amazon, here is the [Link]

Around 5 years ago I collected some photos of the Gulf War aftermath from various sources online and put them all up in a Flickr group. There are 48 pictures currently which you can check by clicking [Here]

The 70 colored photos were taken from 1939 to 1943 and are some of the only color photographs taken of the effects of the Depression on America’s rural and small town populations. Some seriously amazing stuff there. Makes me want to bang my head on the wall for not taking pictures of Salmiya back in the 1980’s. [Link]

I got a forward in my email today that contained a picture I had taken at the Kuwait Airport back in 2005 (pictured above). I had spotted a sign that had been placed in front of a security camera and thought that was pretty stupid and took a picture of it. Now 5 years later, it’s become one of those “epic fail” kind of pictures that gets forwarded around. Pretty cool. [Link]

Cinescape uploaded pictures of old movie theaters here in Kuwait to their Facebook group with the oldest theater dating back to 1954. I hope they upload pictures of Cinema Salmiya and the drive through cinema as well. [Link]

Thanks Mohammed

For those of you who aren’t aware of this there is, a section in the 248AM Forum called “What People are Selling”. It’s a section in the forum I created a few years ago where people who have items they want to sell can do so in that section. Since then the section has become very active and you can find a ton of good deals there. I’ve purchased a lot of items in the forum and sold a lot of items as well. My latest purchase was a like new condition Nikon 50mm f1.4 lens (pictured above next to my 50mm f1.8) with local warranty for KD70. You can find a ton of stuff for sale there from iPhones and iPads, to home furniture and high end sound systems. If you haven’t checked it out yet then do so. Here is the link to the forum. [Link]

Note: The pictures below are for people searching the web for side by side size comparison between the Nikon 50mm f1.8 and the 50mm f1.4. I couldn’t find a proper picture when I was searching so hopefully this will help someone in the future. The 50mm f1.4 is just slightly heavier and just very slightly taller than the f1.8. The build quality of the f1.4 lens is very similar to my 28mm f2.8 lens and 85mm f1.8 lens although the casing doesn’t seem to contain any metal parts.

I recently got a hold of this beautiful picture of the original Sultan Center in Salmiya taken back in 1986. Here is a link to a larger version of the photo. [Picture]

Update: This picture was taken in 1986, not 1982.

Back in April I posted about the Canon photography competition and encouraged readers to enter. Well the results are out and the grand prize winner was from Kuwait! The photographer was Sue Azmi and she entered and won with the beautiful photograph above. To check the results here is the [Link]

Thanks Sarah

Great photos from the Boston Globe. [Link]

Blogger Mathai was at the Red Bull car park drift and took some cool pictures. You can check them out [Here]

The best thing about this weather is that everyone stays in doors. I passed by Kei in Marina Crescent for lunch and it was empty, I was like the only person there. It looked like a scene from the movie and video game Silent Hill.

Just saw these pictures taken in Saudi Arabia. Looks like they had some serious flooding because of the rain. [Link]

Update: The pictures above are from yesterday. You can see more pictures, videos and even read up on it via a Saudi blog dedicated to the torrential rains [Here]

The video below on the other hand is from last year and it shows a dramatic rescue of a woman from a car that was just about to get swept away by a flood. [YouTube]