arabia Archives - Wouter Kingma Blog

Humr An-Na’am Book

I love working on authentic local stories. A few years ago we crafted the story around Falcons of Arabia with an exclusive book, a photo exhibition tour and a bunch of talks. In recent months, I’ve shot a whole different beast … the Arab’s beloved camel.

Last summer, I was approached by Aditi Kumar, an upcoming author, to support the photography for her new book ‘Humr An-Na’am – Treasure of the Desert’. We gelled well and over the last few months, we’ve been travelling around the country capturing a wide variety of camel settings. I’ve rarely seen anyone so dedicated and organized as Aditi and it’s been a real pleasure working together. Her father is a vet and has been looking after the camels belonging to the Bin Hamoodah family for over 25 years. As he approaches retirement age, she thought it would be a great opportunity to tell their story and dig into his wealth of knowledge.

The main character in the storyline of the book is Faraj bin Hamoodah, a 70 year old successful entrepreneur, former Bedouin, family man and respected personality from Abu Dhabi. Humr An-Na’am echo’s his vision of what camels have to offer us as humans and how the lifestyle of camel farming, racing and breading can bring us back to the core of living. Faraj bin Hamoodah clearly loves spending time at his farms, away from hectic city life, a place where he finds peace, simplicity and solitude. I am deeply grateful to him for sharing his passion and knowledge.

[CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL ONLINE IMAGE GALLERY]

It’s not every day that a photographer sticks a camera so close to a camel’s face that you can literally see the lens steam up and smell their breath… or lies flat on the ground and has a dozen or so camels standing around you, munching on fresh grass from beneath you. Any outsider would probably think I’ve gone nuts but that’s how I love to roll, always in search of a unique perspective. Over the course of this project, I’ve really gained an appreciation for the camel and the role it plays in Arab culture.

Opportunities like this, working with inspiring individuals like Aditi, creating meaningful and long lasting content are an absolute privilege. It’s her days of research, hours of interviews, four years of writing… that laid the content for an awesome book. A tangible book of great historical and cultural significance.

The book will be available at all the major bookstore and online at www.thedreamworkcollective.com.

Wk.

Falcons of Arabia – launched!

I always find it fascinating how business ticks along. Well over two years ago now, I received an email from sports marketing client, Professional Sports Group (PSG), asking whether I had any falcon images. I did as it happened and shared them with the group. It then went quiet for a while, as it sometime does, before a call out of the blue with the question, “Are you interested in doing a book about falcons?”.

Now two years on along with 35,000 raw files, 14 days of shooting, hours of research, three edits and 10,000 words, we’ve finally just launched an amazing book, Falcons of Arabia. Call me biased if you will but I’ve received truly humbling feedback from local Emirati’s on reviewing early copies of the book and during my exhibition at Emirates Palace. Their acknowledgment and enthusiasm has filled me with pride and endorses our approach to shooting the subject.

Wouter-Kingma-Blog-Falcons-of-Arabia-book-6

The book was created for investment managers, Columbia Threadneedle, who will be hand delivering copies to their high end clientele. Nothing like this has ever been done before and I’m sure the book will provide them great recognition and curiosity. From the book, we’ve selected twenty prints which will go on an international exhibition tour. The first stop was Abu Dhabi’s Emirates Palace. London comes next with other cities to follow.

With Jamie Cunningham, CEO of Professional Sports Group.

I’ve uploaded a summary of my favourite images on my website and I’m super happy with the results. Whilst this was a great gig to work on, it was also a hard subject to shoot. Falcons are wild birds so getting them to do what you want is no easy feat. I’ve learned that raw meat is what makes them tick and a caring, professional falconer becomes your treasured partner. It’s been really interesting to see how these birds all differ, not just in looks but by their behaviour. I hope their individual characters have translated back into the images.

One personal highlight occurred when returning to one of the falcon farms, deep in the desert near Sweihan. The intention to shoot was interrupted by an unexpected late lunch invitation. We sat down on the floor for a lovely traditional Arabic lunch which, as an expat, are rare occasions and always much appreciated. At the same time, I felt conscious of the time, nervously looking outside at the great light which would soon fade. Still, I’m a firm believer that you have to live the moment and enjoy the experience… and all worked well in the end as we captured some stunning images just before sunset.

Finally what a great opportunity to share the stories and book to a global audience on CNN with Becky Anderson. Below is a rough screen grab…worth a watch as the spark is at the end!

I’d like to acknowledge the great team on our side who did a grand job on art direction, research, text writing, calligraphy and in designing a truly unique book. My thanks to you all. This can only lead to more new and exciting projects together.

Wk.