UAE | Heritage and Culture

Chasing light at end of the lenses

Where there is light, members of an Abu Dhabi-based photography club will chase it.

  • By Rania Habib, Staff Reporter
  • Published: 00:00 April 7, 2007
  • Gulf News

  • Lightchasers counts over 130 members from various nationalities.
  • Image Credit: Ahmed Kutty/Gulf News

Abu Dhabi: Where there is light, members of an Abu Dhabi-based photography club will chase it.

Whether in Abu Dhabi, around the UAE, or abroad, the Lightchasers photography club-turned-community welcomes anyone to try their eye at photography.

"The group came together purely for the passion of photography, and basically we talk about nothing else," says Lee Khalfan Al Romaithi, one of the founding members of Lightchasers.

The group was started informally in 2002, but was officially re-launched in mid-2006.

Lightchasers now counts over 130 members of various nationalities and even more diverse professional backgrounds; from doctors to filmmakers, fashion designers to art teachers, and bankers to oil technicians, the group counts mostly amateurs.

"We have very few professionals, maybe about 2 per cent of the group," says Al Romaithi.

Projects planned

"Photographers of any level can join. We have a lot of experienced people within the group, at a semi-professional level and people who don't even own a camera, who want input on what camera to buy and how they should be using it.

"Whether film or digital, it doesn't matter; we even have people put up pictures on the group website from their camera phones. It's no holds barred, it's free, everybody is welcome and we'll try and keep it that way."

Members meet at the Cultural Foundation every fortnight for discussions and photo critiques and try to meet once a week to plan for projects and just chat about their passion.

"It's an open forum where people can learn from each other," explains Al Romaithi.

"If demand is there, we hold beginners' workshops. People post questions on the online forum, bring in pictures to the meetings and ask what's wrong with it. Maybe technically it's right, but the composition could go wrong. It's all in the name of benefiting others."

Photography trips are organised by the group, some of which have taken them to the Liwa desert, India and Oman.

Ali Al Junaibi is a professional photographer for the Emirates Centre for Strategic Studies & Research (ECSSR), and joined Lightchasers last year to improve his skills.

"Personally I'm more interested in landscape photography like nature and animals," says Al Junaibi.

"Unfortunately I missed the group trip last year, but am trying to go with them on the next trip to Ladakh in Kashmir during the summer."

Al Romaithi says that all travel expenses are covered personally, and that the aim is to just take as many photos as one can.

"On our trip to India, we took more camera gear than we did clothes. On the second trip, we spent eight days in Kerala, where the scenery is beautiful, the people are very friendly and want to have their photo taken. We've done critiques of the pictures we've taken and hopefully some of them will be exhibited at a gallery in Dubai in April.

"Photography has evolved into digital now, which puts the layman in the driver's seat. It's a revolution that people have accepted and embraced. Photography is an art that anybody can achieve, so when are you joining us?" he asked.

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