I have spent the two weeks over Christmas and the New Year in wonderful Oman. A long way from my home in New South Wales, but well worth the arduous journey. More on this in a future Macfilos story but as a taster let me present my lucky and very joyful shot. If I had not already declared my hand with my personal POTY- photo of the year- nomination I would have chosen this one as it just squeaked into 2018.
It was taken as I was driving through the desert fringe village of Bidiyah. Several children were waving to us, so I pulled over and I took some not particularly special photos of them. Then, as I pulled away, the two smallest children in the group ran beside the Toyota 4WD, shouting and laughing. Luckily my window was still down but I did not have time to lift the camera to my eye or look at the LCD screen so I just held the Q out of the window and pressed the shutter release, hoping for the best. It was my lucky day.
It would have ideal not to have caught the edge of the window in shot, but the Q did a great job in focusing on the children so quickly. I was also lucky in that I had both the aperture and shutter speed set to A — my default settings — as it selected 1/800th second and f/5.6 which both stopped the movement and gave some depth of field.
The sheer delight on the children’s faces makes the shot for me. And don’t the children look really fit and healthy? It must be from eating camel meat and from the Vitamin D infuses by the sunshine.
Having tried camel meat on the trip, though, I’ll just settle for the sunshine part of the mix, thank you.
You can find more from John Shingleton at The Rolling Road and on Instagram at therollingroad.
Lovely shot John and I actually think its good having the car in the foreground as it gives context to the photo
I agree
A wonderful image capturing the joy of children!
A Great, Joyful photo. Congrats and enjoy.
Beautiful can’t wait till you photo while riding a camel! HA!
That is certainly a legitimate “street” shot
A brilliant spontaneous shot. I went to your images of Oman on your flickr account and they’re just beautiful. Looking forward to the story
Jean
Those unplanned captured moments always make the best images.
I look forward to hearing more about your Christmas adventure.
Lovely to see this shot, John. And I can’t help noticing the spaciousness given by your use of the Q, which enhances the "joyicity".
A beautiful moment John, captured perfectly and embracing joyous spontaneity
We had a great time there several years ago. I took a Panasonic GF1 with me ..the first of Panasonic’s great little micro-four-thirds cameras, I think. Ah; just looked it up (..looked up the dates of the photos there, in my iPhoto library..) ..January 2011.
Eight years ago, but it seems like only two years since we went!
Everything was so shiny bright in Muscat; the men’s white robes, the clean and glistening cars, the low-rise buildings. But out "in the wilds", so to speak, it was just sand and rock ..not my idea of paradise, though some of the oases, and desert towns like Nizwa, were very interesting to visit. Travels broadens the mind, doesn’t it?
We enjoyed the fish market and the souq in Muscat, a couple of art galleries, and the cafés. Otherwise, back to the large and friendly hotel complex a few miles outside town.
We went ‘cos a friend of my Beloved’s said "You must go!" ..she’d just finished a book of photos of Oman, of frankincense, and everything to do with it ..its provenance, where it went, how it was used ..and so forth. And so we did!
Nice jolly picture up above! (Mine tend to be more ‘quirky’ or abstract..)