Life is a series of rituals. This is ours. This is our Friday.
Frances and I spend the day together and walk in Bahrain City Centre normally – for those not from this area, people can’t walk outside especially in the summer, and malls are big enough, interesting enough, and very importantly are air conditioned so it makes the exercise worth it. While walking, we enjoy talking, window shopping, shopping and meeting with friends we encounter. It’s a nice few hours spent together.
The film was shot entirely on an iPhone 7. It turned out that its auto focus is challenged in this shooting environment. I chose to shoot through the main camera lens rather than the front-facing one. The phone was mounted on a selfie-stick or hand-held. With filming through the primary lens, there is no way for me to see the screen so I had to best guess or trust the system would focus properly. That didn’t work, but the results are acceptable enough.
In the future I’ll have to find a way to lock focus or get a cameraman to do those required shots. I did ask a couple of people at location to help and their shots (OTS, the two of us walking away) were obviously much better than holding the phone at an unknown angle on a selfie stick facing backwards.
In any case, I hope you enjoy this film.
Comments
Nice little film Mahmood.
Yep, we’re all creatures of habit to a degree. Certainly wherever I am in the Middle East, Friday morning is stroll and coffee time. My team(s) always knew/know which coffee shop I would be in on a Friday morning if they wanted a chat out of work. About anything.
Thanks again.
FYI. The way you bended back the front cover of the book totally tripped my OCD. 😮 Naughty, naughty.
Author
About the book thing, my wife has the same attitude as yours. I actually like dog-earing them as I continue to read them, and yes, bend the cover with abandon. I never hurt books though. They’re good enough leaving my hands into others’.
We enjoy these times off, even if it’s only an hour here and two there. It’s good to re-connect and sometimes, just breath the same air.
Dog ear?! N o o o! That’s what boarding cards were invented for. Perfect book markers. I’m telling you Mahmood, anymore of these startling confessions and you’re off to the Naughty Corner.
Agreed, any quality time with “She Who Must Be Obeyed” is priceless.
Let’s meet up next time I’m in town..which is not often since the Pearl incident.
I moved out of Bahrain to Dubai a few years ago. Although I tried to carry on life as usual, my wife became increasingly unsettled with the various incidents that took place. Very, very sad. We loved living in Bahrain, but if the wife is concerned, feeling unsafe and unhappy………
I could go on and on about the tragic events that have taken place throughout the region since our arrival in 1983 (Kuwait), but probably best to keep my trap well and truly shut.
Take care.
Author
The rub is that all of the Gulf’s countries have the potential of being really nice, safe and fulfilling places to live. We have everything to make that a reality. Except for political will it seems. Every now and then, a crisis is created, animosity more entrenched and life just explodes into suspicion and hatred. Wash. Rinse. And repeat. It’s very tiring. I don’t blame people moving out at all. I completely understand. People just want peace to live their lives.