Dusty Wyndow Blog

www.natheerhalawani.com I never would have imagined the day I called the owners of Al Baba Sweets offering them a free photosession a couple years ago that, one day coming really soon, I would be congratulated by friends and family for my own website , the website that held my name. I ask myself sometimes where is this path taking me to, what am I doing here. I am fully aware this is my sense of insecurity due to the absence of somebody to drag me and guide me somewhere – as it’s always been – that is talking at the moment. I wholeheartedly listened to my close friends’ advice and rode the wave, and boy I must say it took me somewhere unbelievable. I’m officially a photographer now, I built a career identity that is available for the public and I can simply throw in my website to anybody wanting to see my work. I used to prepare collages and work for hours picking my photos and eliminating others, only to be able to send a sample or two of my work to a potential client. The we...

Never thought I'd admit this, but here we go, this is officially the most emotional bday I ever had. I was surprised in the most amazing ways, I was shocked in the loveliest manners, I was moved like never before. From my coworkers' little surprise(s) to Rayyan's messages, I felt like the world was paying me back. A collage of the pics I spent my morning taking :) I love them all, for everything they did. For the rush of Suha printing the poster that last minute after asking me about a photography quote I liked best. For the remembrance and possibly the overwhelming thoughts of what to do that Rayyan went through till she finally sent me those memorable messages and eventually making me weep. For the effort some put into reading my last year's post and more importantly putting more effort into doing any sort of action. I love them all for the initiative they took, for the steps they did, wandering from colleague to another gathering money and thinking of what sor...

The sigma I bought a few days ago belonged to a good guy called Waleed Al Rashid. The fact that he's selling this lens because it's unusable to his newly bought body anymore, was a catalyst by itself to push my satisfaction meter way up high. I got one super clean lens for at least half the price in savings. There it was, the new Ultra Wide Angle Sigma right between my hands. To all those who are still a bit far from the photography vocabulary, a wide angle lens is a lens that helps you see more. The smaller the mm, the wider the angle, the closer to what we can see with bare eyes and even more. This lens is so special because not only it gives a majestic 10mm widest angle, but it has this astonishing distortion effect that, without it, the lens wouldn't be the same. As everytime a new lens finds its way to my bag, I decided to use the lens constantly for as long as possible, in order to get used to it and get my eyes acquainted with the new angle. The first few shot...

This is the first time I sit cross-legged in the bus, I'm absolutely exhausted as I go back home 7 in the morning, after what I call a once a year event. I can even still feel the weight of the enormous bags I had as we climbed that magnificent mountain, Jabal Moussa. It was yet another unforgettable event with the Night Collective , lovers of the night, with whom I went to a night in Nahr Ibrahim . My group was set to meet at Adma, at around 8:30 to move up to our landing point, where we'd park the cars and start the hike. Due to some mishaps, the appointment was delayed and we had to spend a bit more time on the famous Casino highway. It's been a dream to me to be standing there on the side that overlooks the Jounyeh bay, and simply be taking pictures for a whole night. There it was, right in front of me, but the unbelievable traffic restrained me on the other side, leaving me to car trail photos and some compositions of the moon. Oh, the moon :) the event last night w...

YES I finally own a DSLR! Everything happened in the blink of an eye. Sitting here remembering all the time I spent on comparing cameras, features, learning about the latest technology in photography, and adapting my wishlist to my budget, I truly feel what happened has been both an achievement and a slap to the face. Achievement in terms of finance and quality vs. money. And yet it was a slap to teach me that extensive planning is a waste of time in most cases, leave it sharp and short. I finally got hit by a chance from up above. Two shares on my FB timeline announced a person is selling his D80 gear. After doing my personal research on both the camera AND on the person selling it, not believing the price he was asking for, I decided to contact him. One hour later, the cam is mine. Screenshot of the original Facebook post It turned out later that the seller is Georges, he was selling everything in order to leave permanently to live in Africa, which explained the low...

I loved the area span of the event's location: A long street (Kataeb street as locals call it) filled with merchandise stands on the sides, two platforms, one at the end (for sporting activities) and one at the middle where bands were playing and various activities were held throughout the day. Gymnasts performing in the center of the crowd I first headed to the "Jesuites Park", first thing that catches your eye once you step foot in Rmeil, where I was supposed to meet with the rest of the free huggers to start our last flashmob for this year. Good thing we chose the car free day for our flashmob, the whole ambiance of joy and calamity, the positive vibes in the air and the whole serenity of the place gave us that push we needed to withstand the whole 6 hours with a smile on our face the whole time. "Le Jardin des Jesuites" has turned into the children's playground Clowns, Clowns Everywhere Children and toddlers were filling the park, while two you...