The Image Making  opportunities on every photography trip I have enjoyed  have been different.  In India, the people love having their photos taken so portraits tend to be a main focus.  In Iceland, the geography dominates.  In Burgundy, France, I loved the small textured villages and beautiful creamy colored cows.  Of course, Ireland was dominated by rain and ruins. 

But in Oman, a trip I took Feb. 2020, things were quite different.  We didn’t see a street life like you might in cities around the world.  The women were covered in black and seemed to stay home more than in many places. 

Figuring out what to take photos of when the buildings were fairly nondescript (with some exceptions) and that we got “no’s” much of the time when we asked to take photos of people was an interesting challenge.

Yep, we had opportunities to take photos at the goat market, of the children, the fish and bird markets,  in the mosques, on a dhow and on the desert.  But what was really fun was when our travel company arranged for people to model for us.  I’d like to show them here and identify as such. 

The first example was in an historic part of Al Hamra, the oldest oasis village in Oman where a historic  home had been turned into a living museum called Bait Al Safah for tourists to tour. Most people see traditional bread making and crafts. 

The village is 30 minutes away from Nizwa, located at the foot of the mountains. The museum provides an exceptional view of the ancient Omani lifestyle in a traditional mud brick building.

We were able to photograph the locals who work there.This provided us both an opportunity to see what it was like to live in Oman before oil was discovered and to have the time to create interesting images. 

 Another experience was on the Sharqiya Sands desert where we stayed in tents for two Arabian nights experience. We had camels to photograph at both sunset and sunrise along with their owner.  How fun was that?  Most tours would take people on camel rides, but the ten photographers in this group agreed they’d much rather take pictures than ride these critters. 

I would have liked to have done both, but that’s ok.  I’ve ridden camels before and know that it is much more fun to take their pictures in the glowing light.   

When we left Oman and ventured to the UAE,  the company hired a beautiful woman who wore a glamorous Iranian traditional dress to go with us to a market in Dubai.  It was a bit crowded and I didn’t get many images of her, but  here’s my best effort.  I also got distracted with the shops in the market and the folks hawking their goods.  It was all good.   

And here are some images  of our handsome drivers,  who smiled and posed willingly through out the trip for us in their dishdashas and embroidered caps or turbans.  

This trip was organized by Jim Cline Photo Tours.