Since 50 is too much, I thought I’d start with an introduction that would at least exhaust 20 of those words! LOL

My name is Faisal and I’m a 30yo single guy from Saudi Arabia. Live in Riyadh and work in advertising, which I love. I’ve been blessed to grow up in a fantastic family, and being the youngest of 8, I think I got introduced to an excellent range of interests, hobbies and taste. Everything from Sinatra to Linkin Park! Casablanca to Dude, where’s my car. And I think this variety of tastes and tones is what made me love life so much.

Riyadh (the capital of Saudi Arabia). I feel embarrassed to admit that I’ve never shot any outdoor pictures in Saudi (except just one abstract shot of “Sunset in Riyadh”) but I look forward to hopefully shooting and sharing a lot from here.

As to how it has impacted my photography... well, it’s very hot! (we’re talking mid 50s in the middle of summer!) and to survive, everybody travels. I was lucky to get to see so many wonderful places around the world. I think the mix of places, people, styles and cultures has really affected me in everyway, including my photography. And for that, I guess, I’ll thank home.

Believe it or not, my job is a challenging, time-consuming one! I work in advertising which: A- I love, B- What I wanted to so since I was 9 and C- Have helped my photography a lot (being around all those talented art-directors and photographers, as well as giving me the chance to travel around the region for TV commercials’ shoots).

But the job involves some ‘waiting around’ in the office which gives me some time for the forum (not so much anymore). In addition to that, Riyadh is extremely hot for at least half of the year – and so being indoors (online) is what we do most of the time.

The people, for sure. When I joined, I knew nothing about photography (even struggled to figure out what was that “DOF” everybody was talking about! LOL). On my very first post, I got a few comments about the “good silhouette” in my shot... I had no idea what a “silhouette” was.

My point being, the wonderful people in the Corner helped and supported me from day one even when I knew less about photography than I do now.

I’ve even become good friends with many members – and was fortunate to meet 2 in my visit to London earlier this year (Terri and Jenn "carroll1" which was a blast.

“The people” also is what inspires me (with the amazing work they post) as well as challenge me, which also helped my photography.

The Corner did most of the job for me, actually.

I had no idea I had anything in me and didn’t even consider photography as a hobby. I started with nothing but ‘artistic’ holiday snaps that I wanted to ‘show off’, shot with a 4mp point and shoot. 2 months later: I learned about DSLRs, got help picking one, learned about many styles of photography (abstract was my first love), learned the words, got recommendations on what books to read, learned how to set up my lighting, exposure, aperture, I really learned everything I needed here.

In my first year, I shot exclusively for the Corner. That was all of my ‘audience’ and my absolute and only goal was to make it once to the list of PotM!

I remember looking at that list the first month or two, all those unbelievable pictures, all those styles, techniques and quality... and I used to think, pff... I can do THAT! LOL Just kidding...

But seriously, I used to hope that I’d someday shoot anything close to that level of quality and creativity. And that only pushed me to do more. Took about 7 or 8 months to get a shot of mine on that list and I think I was on it every month after that until I finally got that damn medal! LOL

Anyway, time’s changed and I set new challenges with hopes to make it offline (i.e. getting 1 photo published or exhibited). And it looks like it’s working.

But the Corner is still where it all started, where I started to grow and I hope to continue to show and share progress with the people who helped me become the mad photo man that I am!

Technically none.

I started here with a few snaps and “cornered” my way through photography. I think I read every tutorial here, checked all new posts and even read all replies to see how a good photo was done and what not.

2 months after joining, the passion grew out of control and I had plans to read a LOT. So far, I’ve read only one book, Understanding Exposure, which I highly recommend to any beginner or pro.

I’ve always loved looking at photographs and that’s the best training, I think. Bad pictures, good pictures, award winning pictures, online and in magazines. All pictures! I’m also a photo-magazine addict and when I get a chance, I check out galleries and award annuals/books (Have many recommendations if anybody’s interested).

The only real training I had was/is trial and error. I used to (sometimes still) shoot each composition with different exposures, or change the lighting or focal length and just see what changes.

I’d shoot the same subject 10 different times with only tiny differences, download onto the PC and just see what works and why. Eventually, I grew accustomed to preferences and learned more how to get exposure the way I wanted, but the trails continue!

I guess I’ve always has that. But until I joined the Corner and started shooting more, I have only expressed my passion through checking out pictures on the net and in magazines. Always bought postcards and small picture posters for the wall.

After starting with the Canon 350D, I recently upgraded to the Canon 400D.

The bag now always includes the 18-55mm standard kit lens (still one of my faves), the 100-300mm and the wide Sigma 10-20mm. Back home I have the macro 100mm (which so far I’ve only been using for portraits), A fish-eye add-on (which I no longer use, since getting the Sigma), and a Lensbaby 2.0.

In addition to the battery and 2GB card in the cam, I always carry an additional battery in the bag (sometimes it’s even charged! LOL) as well as a new 4GB card.

The bag also carries a small remote control (I’m a bit rough and when shooting long exposures, I get excited and hit the shutter shaking the whole camera!) and my mini-tripod as I’m still too self conscious to travel with a big one. This small one is my favorite accessory.

New. That’s my favorite place AND subject to shoot. Anything new (at least to me) And although my preferences seems to be Architecture, Abstracts and some new experiments, I do enjoy shooting everything, be it flowers, people, cities or animals, and I sometimes try to find a new angle to those (which doesn’t necessarily always be the case).

I do know I’m not a Nature & Landscapes photographer (at least not yet). I see so much stunning work on that front but I don’t think I’ll ever attempt that myself. It’s very hard when you’re not a morning person! LOL

But who knows.

Too many to mention. But I’ll try.

I appreciate all kinds of arts and they all inspire me. Sometimes I’d see the perspective of a scene in a movie and that would inspire me to shoot something. Same applies to music – as I shot most of what I shot with an Ipod in my ears and it’s amazing how perspective immediately changes with the Song!

Good work inspires me. I’ve developed a habit of saving photos I see anywhere on a special “best photos” folder. Many photos in it are from this Corner, but I also check out new award winners, published and sold pictures and just LOOK.

Sometimes even receiving a good comment on a photo, or an award, pushes me to get up and shoot immediately.

If I had only one wish, I’d ask for 3 more wishes. LOL

Ok, People who know me are going to get a kick out of this question! LOL

You see I call myself a “power shooter”. I sometimes go weeks without shooting but when I am traveling with a cam, I shoot a LOT! On my last 2 trips I took more than 12,000 shots (London: 4 weeks, 9,000 shots and Cairo: 12 days, 3,100 shots!!).

However, if I get only 24, I’d probably want to take photos of Riyadh for 2 reasons. 1- I always feel guilty for how I spent 2 years in photography and I never shot anything in my city yet and 2- I think there is so much undiscovered beauty and interest in here that is still not seen by the World. I’d probably shoot 6 shots in modern Riyadh, 6 in the old markets, 6 in the desert and city outskirt and 6 to highlight the many interesting new/old eastern/western beautiful contrasts.

First, let’s agree that attempting to shoot (almost everyday) with the lens cap on or the cam turned off, shouldn’t count!

I’m not really sure. I’ve dropped my lenses too many times, almost got arrested in London for shooting “up” what turned to be an important building and so on.

But here’s the silliest AND most dangerous things I’ve done while shooting:

Silliest first:

I was visiting the Canterbury Cathedral with terri and Jenn (which was a fantastic day, despite getting only 1 Krispy Kreme that morning!).

I remember reading the story Saint Thomas who was murdered in 1170 in that Cathedral and when I got there, I saw a beautiful tribute, a statue that shows large Swords (that he was killed by) and their shadows on the wall.

I had an interesting shot idea and wanted to try it. A tribute to that story.

I thought that if I placed my cam on the floor (shooting up), on my mini tripod, I could stand next to the lights and have the shadow of these swords sticking into my own shadow (i.e. the story of the swords that killed the Saint Thomas).

I got up and realized that my shadow was a bit lower than the swords, so I had to stand on my toes, lean forward and even stretch my arms in the air to achieve that shadow mix.

Had my remote ready and as I was pressing, an older couple walked into that area! LOL

You see, the cam captured shadows of swords going into the shadow of a man.

But for people passing by, I looked like an idiot, who’s either trying to steal these swords or want to commit suicide! While standing on his toes and making a silly face, pointing his hand (the one with the remote) at the floor!

Murder in the Cathedral

Set Up

As for the most dangerous:

I spotted a beautiful location in Kuwait that I wanted to shoot at sunrise. Stayed up late (not a morning person here!) and got there at sunrise.

I remembered from the year before, that the rocks are extremely slippery in the beach as they’re covered with seaweed, and so coming down some stairs (leading to the beach rocks) I kept reminding myself of that. I was carrying my cam in one hand and a plastic bag with my small tripod and 2 other lenses on my other hand).

I had no idea the last few steps would also be as covered with seaweeds (and as slippery) as the beach itself. Before I knew it, my cam, the bag of lenses and I were all flying in the air.

I fell hand palm first which supported the fall and I managed to save everything, except for a tiny bit of pain in my hands (and a look of horror/embarrassment on my confused face!)

Proceeded to shoot, only to realize while holding the cam, that my right palm and one finger have been cut and I had blood all the way to my elbow.

After the shoot (LOL) I went to a hospital and had my palm and cut finger cleaned and stitched. If you look really close, you can still see a bit of its trace now (probably caused by sea thingies inside me!). I wonder if that’s why I drink so much water these days!

The End? Went back home with a nice shot (that was almost titled: Bloody sunrise).

The first time I was ever noticed or awarded, was my surprise CCC20 win (Indoor Games) in March 2006 with my first ever contest entry: The Dominos Stonehenge.

The Dominos Stonehenge

That was followed by a series of POTM nominations that finally got me the 2006 December POTM with “Z”, then a co-win in POTM July 2007 with “Happy Together.”

Z

Happy Together

Online:
I started entering the National Awards online competition in June and got lucky in the 2 months I’ve participated in.

June 2007:
London Continuum: Overall 2nd place + Category Winner (Open)
1 of 12: Overall 3rd place + Award of Excellence

1 of 12

July 2007:
Happy Together: Overall 2nd place + Category Winner (People)
Insomnia: Overall 10th place + Award of Excellence

Insomnia

A couple of months ago, I started to enter offline contests and competitions and shot as high as I could (The Masters Cup / The Color Awards, IPA, Royal Photographic Society, American Photographic Society, the London Photographic Association Urbanscapes 2 competition as well as the biggest local photography event: The Arabic Lenses 2007 Exhibition).

Only 4 of those have announced results and I was happy they all were great news.

In June 2007:
2 photos accepted into the Arabic Lenses 2007 Exhibition contest (1 of 12 and Millennium Bridge), and they are currently on tour which will reach my hometown before the end of this year.

Millennium Bridge

In August 2007:
PSA (Photographic Society of America) accepted 5 of my photos into the 2007 exhibition, including an honorable mention, as follows:
Digital / Open category: Beyti and 1 of 12
Travel / Open category: Millennium Bridge
Travel / People of the world: Here, We rule and Happy Together (With an Honorable Mention title)

Beyti

Also in August 2007, the London Photographic Association announced the winners and finalists in their 2007 Urbanscapes 2 Competition, and I got 2 surprising “Highly Recommended” titles for “Hard Rock, Heavy Metal” and “Conflict of Interest.”

Hard Rock, Heavy Metal

Conflict of Interest

Just a couple of days before this interview was released, I also found out that I had received 21 honorable mentions and 1 category win from the IPA (International Photography Awards) - the category win was for "1 of 12" in the non-professional "Special" category! I may be heading to New York in October for the presentation!

I think the support of everybody here in the corner is what gave me the confidence to pursue these channels and special thanks goes to my special someone who believed in me and pushed me to aim high.

I’d also like to thank you my ever so loving and supporting family. If I tell them today that I want to be an Olympic gymnast (LOL), a poet, a food taster or even the holder of Guinness Book of Records for the maximum hours of sleep, they’d still push me forward to doing it. Regardless of my interest or direction, they give nothing but the maximum support and encouragement which makes me, me.

I only began to think about this direction a few months ago. During which, I managed to sell a few prints (not rights) through an online gallery and was recently commissioned to shoot life-style images for an international brand (for local use).

But finally, this July, I got my first order from a company that dresses up hotels and big buildings in America, and we’re now in discussions (looks like 5 abstracts are in order here). Wish me luck.

I honestly think I’m still in the “receiving end” of advice, but will try to share what I know and hopefully someone finds something in it.

Challenge your passion.

Invest time and effort to shoot what you want, get the shot the way you want, keep trying, keep the passion alive, keep challenging yourself, your style and your routine. Try to do the same thing better, then try to do something different! Something new. Post, comment, share, LOOK, try, shoot, shoot and then shoot some more. And most importantly, believe in yourself and in what you can do.

Oh, and have a LOT of fun doing it! ;)