Dusty Wyndow Blog

What's happening this moment is just stunning to me, riding the bus back to Tripoli is officially the only me time there ever was recently. Bus ride back home, Beirut towards Tripoli I once criticized a friend/manager I worked with in the past for being himself and having some personal time only on the airplane, all while traveling to another busy destination with the same hectic schedule as ever. I never thought, at this age at least, that I would turn the same, exactly the same. It's come to a point where my friend recently jokingly called me schizophrenic, for failing to remember an appointment we had in a couple days and having spoken about it the day before. Little did she know that I totally lost it: the ability to concentrate in details is having a picnic, far away from where I am. Taken at Istanbul airport What makes it worse is the fact that my character forces me to be somewhat passive, which automatically drives me to avoid activeness as much as possible and...

It's the night I was able to stand in the Nour Roundabout so freely. It's the night this place was car-free. It's the night a prayer was held at the center of the Roundabout. It's the night hundreds of people felt joy at this place rather than being anxious whether to cross the fire lit there or not. It's the night a bunch of white-hearted Tripolitans took the initiative of throwing the first mass iftar at the center of my home town, Tripoli. The mass iftar viewed from the 15th floor, at the center of Tripoli, Lebanon. It was noon when I first passed by the place and saw couple of my friends there getting all busy preparing for the big event, 6 hours earlier. I arrived there exactly 6:30, the place was already packed. The sight of the roundabout being closed from afar reminded me of the time I had to avoid the burning tires and the raging thugs that have taken it as a habit to come and close the square preventing people from going home and forcing shops to close...

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...

On the 21st this month I was invited to the launching of the Media Association for Peace , MAP in short, at the Monroe Hotel in Beirut, by my friend, and one of the organizers, Aisha Habli. Having set up my schedule for the day, I decided to show up and squeeze-in an hour or so for the celebration, in between my work, the parliament protest, and the music festival happening all at roughly the same time. Vanessa Bassil giving her speach The place was packed, the organizers had apparently done a very good job organizing the whole thing. A welcoming lady at the entrance greeted me and showed me the way, a few more at the registration, and a lot more right at the door with a warm smile right before I stepped foot inside the auditorium. I blew a sigh of relief, thinking I was late to the ceremony; thank goodness we were all Lebanese: the organizers apparently sent invitations 30-minutes earlier, knowing there will still be people who would show up late, as always. "It is just...

I still remember that day, I was a bit shy at the beginning, shy in terms of never had the chance to wear the official Hajj clothing ever before. I was browsing through the old emails in my outlook inbox, when all of a sudden an email with the title "photos" from my old friend Adnan was showing there, it took me instantly back to the day he told me he was going to visit me and Sam again in our apartment in Jeddah, back in the days. Well, Adnan was first our flatmate, until he resigned and moved to Riyadh; he had wanted that day to come to Jeddah for a sleepover and a trip to Meccah. It sure wasn't my first, but was surely my first attempt to do the renowned muslim Omrah. Sam, my wonderful flatmate had given me his clothes, all washed and cleaned, and showed me a guide on how to wear them, and all the regulations and rules to go with the Omrah. I have to admit though, such an occasion having its own formalities and structure had definitely added to the glam of it. I re...