Weekly Photo Challenge: Spare

May 29, 2016 by Yousuf Bawany

Spare a thought to the infinite space around us and the rarity of our existence. There is no known extraterrestrial life, intelligent or otherwise; we are but a speck of dust in this ever-expanding cosmos. Never will this thought hit you harder than when you’re flying thousands of feet above sea-level. Perspective changes everything; it humbles you like nothing else can.

These photos were taken while flying over Pakistan, Iran, UAE, Birmingham, and other places I can’t even remember. Enjoy!

Going anywhere

Over Tigris

Earth 2013

Mountains

Orange water?

Leaving on a jet plane

A bit hazy

A river of clouds

Crop circles?

Wing man

Birmingham calling

Tigris – flowing

Cotton Candy

In responce to the Daily Post’s Weekly Photo Challenge.

A Priceless T-Shirt

May 1, 2016 by Yousuf Bawany

I recently volunteered for the Emirates Literature Festival in Dubai where all volunteers were supposed to wear standard-issue T-shirts. Unfortunately, they didn’t have any to fit my bulky frame. I decided to keep the one I got as a souvenir and turn it into something priceless; click on one of the images below for a closer look!

This bad boy has autographs from authors, poets and illustrators, including John Julius Norwich, Rachel Hamilton, A.F. Harrold, Jacqueline Wilson, Michael Dobbs, Garth Nix, Anthony Horowitz, Ian Rankin, Brandon Sanderson, David Crystal, Ben Crystal, Hillary Crystal, David Melling, Jenny Colgan, Alexander McNabb, Marcia Williams, John McHugo, John Man, Sean Fay Wolfe, Gill Lewis, Jo Simpson, Maitha Al Khayat, Lauren St. John, Chris Carter, Shukri Al Mabkhout, Korky Paul, Darren Shan, Anchee Min, Lisa Faulkner, Sebastian Fitzek, Rachel Billington, Susan Abulhawa, Antony Beevor, Jonathan Meres, Justin Marozzi, Chris Haughton, Diana Darke, Susan Casey, Peter Horacek, Christopher Edge, David Allen, Tim Specter, Chris Cleave, Imtiaz Dharkar, Curtis Jobling, Chris Cleave, Gavin Mortimer, Marco Misiroli and Harry Baker. This is one precious heirloom that I’m sure to pass on to my children.

NOTE: In case you were wondering, I did have a tough time mapping forty-nine names to their signatures two months after the festival. Fortunately, Microsoft Paint came to the rescue – hope I haven’t missed any names! 🙂

A Literary Feast For A Literary Beast

May 1, 2016 by Yousuf Bawany

Reading is something I started doing quite late in life, but my transformation into the literary beast, which I still proudly am, was fairly quick. It was ‘mystery’ that hooked me in, starting me off with some innocent Enid Blyton (of the Hardy Boys fame); it wasn’t long before I was injecting regular doses of Agatha Christie (remember Hercule Poirot?). My metamorphosis was complete; there was no going back. I started tasting other genres including horror, sci-fi and fantasy, and to this day, nothing gets my heart beating faster than speculative fiction.

I moved to Dubai in 2014 and it was then that I heard of the Emirates Airlines Festival of Literature (EAFOL). The EAFOL is the highlight of Dubai’s event calendar and is organized every March by the hard-working people at the Emirates Literature Foundation. I was lucky enough to be part of the EAFOL volunteering team in 2015 and decided to (happily) render my services in 2016 as well; this time as a photographer. The event served to be a thousand KVA jolt of much-needed motivation/inspiration and I finally started my journey as an aspiring novelist.

This year, EAFOL had a stellar lineup of authors, poets, illustrators, chefs, scientists, astronauts and journalists from across the globe. I was fortunate enough to interact with quite a few of them; they were more than eager to share priceless insights into the mysterious world of writing and publishing. Every single one of these individuals (whose photos I’m about to share with you) is an amazing human being with the power of transforming lives through the pen. Hats off to you all – keep calm and write on!

Adel Khozam

A.F. Harrold

Afshin Molavi

Annabel Kantaria

In Session: Afshin Molavi and Annabel Kantaria

Alexander McNabb

Garth Nix

Jenny Colgan

In Session: Alexander McNabb, Garth Nix and Jenny Colgan

Anchee Min

In Session: Anchee Min, Victoria Hislop and Helen Macdonald

Antony Beevor

Anthony Horowitz

Brandon Sanderson

Brian Johnson

Chris Carter

Ian Rankin

In Session: Ian Rankin and Chris Carter

Chris Cleave

Chris Hadfield

Chris Haughton

Christopher Edge

Curtis Jobling

In Session: Christopher Edge and Curtis Jobling

Cristina Mejia

In Session: David, Hilary and Ben Crystal

Darren Shan

David Allen

David Melling

David Neild

Diana Darke

Gavin Mortimer

Gill Lewis

Harry Baker

In Session: The Wonderful World of Harry Potter

Imtiaz Dharkar

Jacqueline Wilson

Jo Simpson

Joe Wicks

John Julius Norwich

John Man

John McHugo

John Torode

Jonathan Meres

Julia Johnson

Justin Marozzi

Kikka Hotta

Kiran Chhabria

Korky Paul and his Quirky Assistant

Lauren Child

Lauren St. John

Liliane van der Hoeven

Lisa Faulkner

Liz Fenwick

Maitha Al Khayat

Marcia Williams

Marco Misiroli

Mark Evans

Michael Dobbs

Muhsin Suleman

Peter Horacek

Rachel Billington

Rachel Hamilton

Riz Khan

Robert Lindsay

In Session: Scintillating Science with Christopher Edge, Nick Arnold and Rachel Hamilton

Sean Fay Wolfe

Sebastian Fitzek

Shukri Al Mabkhout

Suad Amiry

Susan Abulhawa

Susan Casey

Tim Spencer

In Session: The UAE Mars Mission with Sarah Amiri and Saeed Al Gergawi

A Literary Treat: The Emirates Airline Festival of Literature in Pictures

April 4, 2015 by Yousuf Bawany

2015 is supposed to be a year of change for me; I had stayed holed up in my comfort zone for far too long and it was high-time I ventured outdoors to follow my passions. Volunteering at the Emirates Airlines Festival of Literature 2015 seemed like a perfect opportunity to awaken the literary beast within me from a long hibernation. Plus, it gave me the ideal opportunity to inaugurate my new Nikon D7100. Words would be wasted on the awesome experience that was the EAFOL, so without further ado, here’s a look at the essence of the festival through my lens.