Photography 101 in Fujairah—Shooting With Your Camera

Here are some tips that emerged from a photography workshop in the Fujairah Beach.

Members of Dubai’s Friday Shoot Out came across to Fujairah last Friday at an unearthly hour.

Fujairah photographer, Alan Nambiar, gave some valuable input urging the group to be thinking of the concept they want to get across to their viewers instead of shooting their cameras willy-nilly.

After the theory it was time to head to Fujairah’s Umbrella Beach to see what concepts we could create and develop.

Here are some concepts that emerged about different ways to shoot the camera:

Point Blank Range

Here’s a tip on shooting your target at an extremely close range and to add to the difficulty, a person who does not want to be photographed. The fisherman is taken by surprise as the photographer creeps up from behind the man’s jeep. The photographer says with an authoritative voice, “Stand still and pass over your fish or I’ll shoot you.”

The man replies jokingly, “I haven’t got any fish but that man with the camera over there has got a jeep full of them.”

Caught in the Cross Fire

The joke was on me. The photographer turned his camera on me and demanded the fish while the fisherman smiled. I was caught in the cross fire.

Cornering Your Subject

Here’s a tip when your subject seems likely to turn away and move out of range. Join forces with a gaggle of photographers and work together. In this instance one photographer spots a good subject on the Fujairah beach. He immediately calls his mates and the members of the Friday Shoot Out group surround this unsuspecting Emirati, who is posing as a photographer. Remember, there's strength in shooting as a group.

Alan has the camera trained on his subject and he shouts, “Don’t move! Drop your camera or I’ll shoot you!”

The Emirati photographer says, “Stuff it!” and carries on shooting.

Alan gives him one last chance and then shoots. Unfortunately Alan discovers that the battery in his camera is dead!

Reinforcements are called and reloading is the order of the day.

Covering all the Angles

The great thing about being involved in a photography group is that the firing squad can shoot from all angles.

The Perils of Overshooting

Don’t overshoot your subject in one shoot out. This man has had enough.

Chaos descends and every photographer ends up shooting each other. The subject is not amused and keeps asking, “Where the hell do I look?”

Photography Ethics

A word about shooter’s ethics: Shooting standards by this time at the Fujairah beach have fallen at least to the low tide mark. The photographers are really getting up the nose of the subject, especially the camera man who is shooting at point blank range with a telephoto lens.

After the Dubai group conclude their shooting another group of Abu Dhabi photographers begin shooting the same man! He’s finished.

Further
Photography 101 in Fujairah—Composing Your Picture, FIF, 15 February 2011.
Dubai Photographers Shoot Fujairah and the UAE East Coast, FIF, 15 January 2011.
Photos of Fujairah and Kalba that Tell a Story, FIF, 19 January 2011.

Geoff Pound

This article is also posted on the Fujairah in Focus Facebook Page.