My mother-in-law lives in the Green Community in Dubai and she is all on her own for the summer. She invited us to spend Friday night with her and naturally for us it meant having a barbecue.

Bernie and I drove back home after photography class to pack up some stuff and then headed to the shops to pick up the items for our barbecue. Good thing it wasn’t Ramadan yet. It was just after mid day when we got there along with my brother-in-law Larry and his family.

It was hot so we spent time indoors until the sun was about to set. I also managed to put in 3 loads of laundry which would otherwise have been sitting at home in Sharjah all through the weekend and we’d end up without any clean clothes!

I unfortunately have no photos of dinner, which was relished quite faster than anyone anticipated. The pork was tender and yummy, the fish was excellent and the sweetened banana dessert and coffee were the perfect end to a great meal. After the table was cleared, we decided to take a stroll with the sole purpose of taking photographs.

A sharp image is always desirable in photography but I like this blurry photo of a back-street which I took on manual settings and with my husband asking me to hurry up. There’s an air of eeriness about it.
Apparently there is a light and water display in the area near the tennis courts so we headed that way. There were a couple of guys playing tennis and I really don’t get why they do because it was really hot that evening.

It turns out the colourful lights get switched off at 10pm and we got there just after that, so we stuck to other areas instead. Not a total loss if you ask me.
The entrance between the Green Community and the Marriott Courtyard has this water feature with lights and a gazebo. It was just begging to be photographed! I cannot remember all the settings but this was shot using my Sigma 70mm lens, Manual mode, 20 seconds, ISO 100, f2.8.
I didn’t like the colour so I adjusted the white balance to Shade I think and increased the shutter speed to 30 seconds and aperture to f5. Unfortunately the auto-timer on the lights kicked in too so this is not as bright as I would have liked.
I then moved my attention to one of the lit towers across the garden path. This was just at 2 seconds on f2.8. I like the low lights best esp the green glow of the grass.
My mother-in-law’s place is home to three furry friends. It was difficult photographing them as they kept on moving. I now have a renewed respect for people with pets. Yes, Lee, that includes you my dear friend.

This here is the cat Snowy. He came out at the start of the evening when the barbecue was being fired up. Probably hoping he could catch a few morsels.
Gotcha! He was in for some tuna treat hence the tongue.
Meet Shandi, not really sure what breed he is but he was so cute.And this is his friend, Snowy. Yes, I know my mom-in-law’s kids are not very creative when it comes to names. This furball is quite cute, don’t you think?Even his nose is irresistable!

This Friday, our photography class is going to the Dubai Heritage Village for our first outdoor event and practical evaluation. We are expected to shoot in full manual mode, JPG only and no post-processing. Yikes!