boats, pearls, history, music, culture.

There is that much going on in Qatar that sometimes it's difficult to work out what to do & where to go, its like the Netflix of cities... Too. Much. Choice.

Back in December we dropped into Katara to have quick look at the Dhow Boat Festival on the way to the Fifa Arab Cup Quarter final (see what I mean) . We had a quick mooch round, my daughter held a falcon & we grabbed some chips before rushing up to the amazing Al Bayt Stadium at Al Khoor for kick off.

I saw enough on this quick trip to know i had to go back and spend some serious time there as I would get some ace shots for my growing Qatar Image Library. Handily the festival opened daily at 3pm which is when the winter sun is just starting to dip & the light is brilliant.

When I'm working to a clients brief for a travel guide I will do loads of upfront research, plan my route & before I even pick up my camera I will spend as much time as I can looking round, people watching (usually with a coffee) & getting a real feel for the place. So by the time I go to take the 1st shot I instinctively know I'm capturing the spirit of the place.

But with this shoot, as it was for myself I just grabbed one camera with my fav 50mm lens on & wandered round*, if something looked interesting I took a photo. I had a great time, chatted to loads of people & remembered that I what I do for a living is fun & I LOVE IT!

I have dropped some links below with info about Katara, the Dhow Boat Festival & how to license the images.

But we all know that the best part of any blog is the pictures, so go check out the gallery below.

Enjoy!

*Katara is one of my favourite places in the city & I have drank a lot of coffee enjoying the view from the amazing terrace at Boho Social, so have sort of done the prep work.

why all the men?

I hear you cry!

It was incredibly busy at the festival & while there were a lot of women present they were mainly there with their families & friends as visitors, not as part of the festival participants and it's respectful not to take their photo without permission.

It was great to see loads of female photographers shooting at the event, but we tend to be the last people who want our picture taking!