Little residents of an unknown street in Thuqba...

NeilLNeilL Registered Users Posts: 4,201 Major grins
edited June 28, 2008 in Street and Documentary
...Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia say salaam alaikum to you on a lazy Thursday afternoon!


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Alaikum salaam! Hope you like these!
Neil
"Snow. Ice. Slow!" "Half-winter. Half-moon. Half-asleep!"

http://www.behance.net/brosepix

Comments

  • SandySandy Registered Users Posts: 762 Major grins
    edited March 28, 2008
    Thank you, I really enjoyed these fabulous photos.
  • NeilLNeilL Registered Users Posts: 4,201 Major grins
    edited March 28, 2008
    Sandy wrote:
    Thank you, I really enjoyed these fabulous photos.

    Glad you liked them, Sandy!
    "Snow. Ice. Slow!" "Half-winter. Half-moon. Half-asleep!"

    http://www.behance.net/brosepix
  • NeilLNeilL Registered Users Posts: 4,201 Major grins
    edited March 31, 2008
    Added a few...
    Don't know where these guys got this "scrumdown" style of posing from, they adopted it spontaneously! Anyway, a few minutes of their otherwise unobserved lives on a Thursday afternoon in an unknown street...


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    Hope you enjoyed the look!

    Neil
    "Snow. Ice. Slow!" "Half-winter. Half-moon. Half-asleep!"

    http://www.behance.net/brosepix
  • Awais YaqubAwais Yaqub Registered Users Posts: 10,572 Major grins
    edited March 31, 2008
    Nice photos enjoyed them
    thanks for sharing
    I read no one can take photos in Saudi Arabia i think it was a lie headscratch.gif
    Thine is the beauty of light; mine is the song of fire. Thy beauty exalts the heart; my song inspires the soul. Allama Iqbal

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  • NeilLNeilL Registered Users Posts: 4,201 Major grins
    edited April 1, 2008
    Awais Yaqub wrote:
    Nice photos enjoyed them
    thanks for sharing
    I read no one can take photos in Saudi Arabia i think it was a lie headscratch.gif


    Welcome, Awais!

    When I drove into this street in this area of Al Khobar, which is now mainly distinguished by scores of automobile mechanic and body shops but which is a very old part of the city and described by old timers as having been very beautiful, my eye was caught by a doorway framed by a wispy tree. I stopped the car to get a shot of this, and also of an electricity installation over which was scrawled graffiti with, among the Arabic, these English words "I love you my sister".

    I was caught in mid action by a boy walking out of a house nearby. He approached me with a stern face, wagging his finger and telling me in Arabic that photos weren't to be taken. I indicated to him if he would like me to take his photo. He immediately grinned broadly and straightened himself up for just that!

    It wasn't long before a little crowd (all men and boys because social mixing of females with strange men is culturally taboo) had gathered in the street, and so these pictures could be taken.

    Person to person, Saudi people have exquisite manners, and well they might because beneath they are very passionate and volatile!

    You have to be very circumspect when taking photographs here. You cannot be too public about it, so you have to creep about surreptitiously with your very obvious gear. If you are seen to be obviously photographing buildings and installations you might be reported to the police, or be seen by them, and have everything confiscated! You cannot photograph women. Some people object to photography on religious grounds. For some time camera mobile phones were banned from sale.

    Gradually customs are changing, but people will hold onto these principles even so. About a quarter of the population of 24 million is expatriate workers, a sizable number of whom are from the US, working in the oil and construction industries. Saudi society is a wonderful mix, but the sensibilities of Islam rule over all.

    Generally, Saudis do not have anti Western attitudes. Indeed the government has arranged for the reeducation of many thousands of clerics for fomenting such attitudes. The Saudi government is on very intimate friendly terms with the US government.

    In these photos you can see that popular culture is oriented towards the West to a degree. The boys are wearing the football (soccer) team jerseys of Western teams, and their sport heroes are therefore nominally Christian, in countries such as Spain and Italy!

    Some people in these forums might choose to regard these basic Saudi townspeople as "The Enemy" (and disregard them here), responsible for atrocities against them and for expensive gas. The danger is that such an attribution might beget the reality. Better maybe to recognise that we all look after our own self interests and cherish our own homes, families, friends and traditions, and allow each other the freedom, and offer each other protection, for that.

    Neil
    "Snow. Ice. Slow!" "Half-winter. Half-moon. Half-asleep!"

    http://www.behance.net/brosepix
  • VisualXpressionsVisualXpressions Registered Users Posts: 860 Major grins
    edited April 1, 2008
    Very nice shots Neil... Shooting people like this is one of my favorite things to do while visiting another Country... I love 2, 4 & 6 from the first set, and 3 & 4 from the second set... Kids are great when the ham it up for the camera, very expressive... To bad you didn't get the shot of the grafiti and the tree...

    Winston
    http://www.vxphotography.smugmug.com/
  • Awais YaqubAwais Yaqub Registered Users Posts: 10,572 Major grins
    edited April 1, 2008
    Thanks Neil for detailed response. It is some what similar situation in Pakistan.
    Thine is the beauty of light; mine is the song of fire. Thy beauty exalts the heart; my song inspires the soul. Allama Iqbal

    My Gallery
  • NeilLNeilL Registered Users Posts: 4,201 Major grins
    edited April 3, 2008
    VisualXpressions wrote:
    Very nice shots Neil... Shooting people like this is one of my favorite things to do while visiting another Country... I love 2, 4 & 6 from the first set, and 3 & 4 from the second set... Kids are great when the ham it up for the camera, very expressive... To bad you didn't get the shot of the grafiti and the tree...

    Winston

    Thanks, Winston. Yes, there's a lot of satisfaction if you can make contact with people thru the camera.

    I did get those shots... I snuck 'em in while the objecting kid was getting into pose for his own pic, hehe.

    Similarly, I got some shots inside the Meridian Hotel precinct near the army bunker by turning over with a security guard his order for me to stop and leave until he and I had considered it properly done. In a culture where manners are a high priority, indulging in the little pas de deux of these situations sometimes produces alternative denouements to the one that was originally envisaged. On the other hand, you might get summarily shot, no ifs or buts. When you play in such an orchestra as this you have to be in tune!! mwink.gif
    "Snow. Ice. Slow!" "Half-winter. Half-moon. Half-asleep!"

    http://www.behance.net/brosepix
  • dlplumerdlplumer Registered Users Posts: 8,081 Major grins
    edited June 28, 2008
    Some people in these forums might choose to regard these basic Saudi townspeople as "The Enemy" (and disregard them here), responsible for atrocities against them and for expensive gas. The danger is that such an attribution might beget the reality. Better maybe to recognise that we all look after our own self interests and cherish our own homes, families, friends and traditions, and allow each other the freedom, and offer each other protection, for that.

    Neil[/QUOTE]

    Great photos, great series, great commentary clap.gifclap.gifclap.gif
    Dan
    http://danielplumer.com/
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  • NeilLNeilL Registered Users Posts: 4,201 Major grins
    edited June 28, 2008
    dlplumer wrote:
    Great photos, great series, great commentary clap.gifclap.gifclap.gif

    Very kind of you to say so, dlplumer. And I'm happy you liked the post!

    Neil
    "Snow. Ice. Slow!" "Half-winter. Half-moon. Half-asleep!"

    http://www.behance.net/brosepix
  • eL eSs VeeeL eSs Vee Registered Users Posts: 1,243 Major grins
    edited June 28, 2008
    I agree with dlplumer, NielL. Nothing opens eyes like words based on experience, except to those who wish to remain oblivious. Hey! I should keep that! :D

    Wonderful photos capturing some great personalities. Good work, my friend! thumb.gif
    Lee
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