Somewhere around Al Khaburah on the way to Sohar we did an about turn down a street parallel to the road as we saw some Omani men lining up getting ready to swing their canes, rattle the swords and beat some drums. An ideal photo opportunity.
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| Omani men gathering for a wedding celebration. The women celebrate elsewhere. |
The above photo was taken with kit lens whilst most of the remaining photos were taken with my Canon 450D using a new EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6L IS USM lens - now affectionately know as the "paparazzi lens"! This lens is not available here in the UAE but if you want to know where it came from, leave a comment and will I post details. I am thinking of a separate blog singing the praises of this lens.
Before taking any photos, I needed to gain permission from the host, then kick our foot ware off and sit on the mat for some Omani hospitality. Formalities complete, the function got going and the camera started clicking.
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| Omani host. |
One of my favourite photos from here, cropped a little to hide some of the distracting background. What was so good about this was the Magic Light. It was late in the afternoon and the sun being low shed a warm soft golden glow over everything. It couldn't have been timed better, hence the term magic light. Other photos have been cropped as well but nothing enhanced with Photoshop. The lens is so good and the light right - what more could you want?
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| Guests enjoying Omani hospitality. Dates, a bowl of water to wash hands first followed by Arabic Coffee. |
After we had partaken of a fruit bowl and water offered instead of the above, we had another mat rolled out for us to enjoy the show!
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| Some of the men |
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| More guests being welcomed |
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| Drummer getting into the swing of it. |
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| He is enjoying himself |
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| Not sure what he is doing |
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| Elder |
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| More enjoyment |
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| Singing their hearts out |
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| Sword dancer |
This small shield is apparently extremely effective in deflecting sword blows or has been in the past. Made out of either buffalo or rhino hide, the Omani preferred these small shields and if they got closer to the enemy could whip out the dagger for a lethal blow! The dagger or khanjah is still part of any well dressed Omani man these days.
That's all from Oman. Hope you enjoyed the armchair ride.
You know more of a road by having traveled it than by all the conjectures and descriptions in
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