MEETING UP WITH JONATHAN FIELD

I'm on my way to meet up with Jonathan Field and his boy Armando. Stay tuned to find out what we're up to.

DUBAI ARABIAN HORSE STUD

Well here is the final component from my Dubai trip to share, I would have loved to get it completed much sooner but unfortunately health got in the way. Thank you to Dubai Arabian Horse Stud for inviting me, I really enjoyed my time there and especially doing the barn video. This event was just a few hours in duration, it went by extremely fast. Despite being in the desert, roughly 50km outside of Dubai I was still able to get perfect cell reception to do a Facebook Live demonstrating part of the event - now that’s impressive.

These Arabians are truly one of a kind and gotta love those foals. It was a happy place for the horses to be. This was an experience that I will never forget, especially being inside that barn, much like Dubai in it’s entirety, it was magical.

Click HERE to view all of the images.

2019 DUBAI INTERNATIONAL HORSE FAIR

It was such a beneficial learning experience at the Dubai International Horse Fair. You all got to see what the booths are like over there and also some activity from the warm up ring, now here are some pictures.

It's unfortunate that I was unable to attend the second day due to being sick, I would have spent that day covering more products in the booths. Otherwise it was a great time with so many things to do and see.

Click HERE to view all the images.

Overcoming adversity is one of the biggest principles in life as it can make or break you. Without a doubt I had my share of challenges leading up to and on the day of the Dubai World Cup.

You don't grow unless you face adversity and the Dubai World Cup will go down as one of the biggest pinnacles of my career, not just in terms of the accomplishment but what it took to get me there and the complications that I had to overcome to get it done.

Meydan Racecourse doesn't allow for infield access to any photographers and videographers and the only way to get footage from there is by setting your camera along the rail and controlling it via remote, which I did not have either a remote or a third camera on me to set along the rail there. Unfortunately, there was absolutely no way for me to bring a third camera with me unless I had someone flying with me. This is just one of the many sacrifices that I had to make.

Click HERE to view all the images.

PHOTOGRAPHING A VERY SPECIAL PERSON IN DUBAI

Paralyzed from the waist down, this very nice kind man was so happy when I approached him to ask if I could take a picture of him. As soon as I saw him in the huge crowd, I knew that I had to take the time to give him some kindness. He should be given all the attention in the world but instead he was given none. I showed him his picture afterwards and he was delighted and said it just made his day knowing that he was greatly respected. Just hearing those words from someone that I just met made my day as well.

THE TOP 5 THINGS THAT ALMOST HAPPENED IN DUBAI

Here are the TOP 5 things that almost happened in my time in Dubai (both good and bad).

𝟭. 𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗼𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗲 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁.
The day after the fair ended, I was commuting in a taxi to Dubai Arabian Horse Stud and we just about had a sideways collision with a bus at 100km/h because the taxi driver failed to stop for a red light. Had this happened, the second half of the trip would have ended much differently. Thank god this did not happen and I was able to safely arrive at Dubai Stud that morning but it gave a real scare and it was an absolutely horrific experience making it there.

𝟮. 𝗣𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘀𝘀𝗲 𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝘂𝗯𝗮𝗶 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝗖𝘂𝗽 𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹.
The only reason this did not happen is because this event was on the day before the Dubai World Cup and I was busy preparing for the races, otherwise this for sure would have happened.

𝟯. 𝗭𝗶𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻 𝗗𝘂𝗯𝗮𝗶 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗮.
This is the worlds longest urban zipline, you come down from 170 meters and hit a top speed of 60km/h. This is not a cheap activity to do but I received a great offer and I very much considered it over the Burj Kalifa but I did not go through with it simply because my back started acting up shortly after I arrived in Dubai and it was not worth the risk of aggravating it, otherwise I probably would have done it for the thrill. I am terrified of heights but I have ziplined before and really enjoyed it, though nothing even close to the magnitude that the Dubai Marina zipline offers.

𝟰. 𝗧𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼𝘂𝗿.
I showed you all what many barns in Dubai look and feel like, I then wanted to show what a tack store in Dubai looks like and their line of products. There are not very many tack stores in Dubai but I wanted to show this one with a tour because they have a very extensive and different product catalog when it comes to horse tack. It's also two floors and it lights up at night.

𝟱. 𝗦𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗗𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗘𝗺𝗶𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝗘𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗖𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗲.
Though I have taken pictures of what you would find in a dressage show, I have yet to photograph one. I couldn't swing this one because it came in really late and I had already made plans for other things, otherwise this was kept as part of the Plan B.

2019 DUBAI WORLD CUP - POST CELEBRATION

Here was the very end of the Dubai World Cup where the current ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum made his appearance on stage. This was during his exit, since I was too busy taking pictures when he was up on stage. It was extremely crammed as everyone was fighting to get a view of him and there were some arguments because some started pushing and shoving. Not every photographer there part of the media was able to get pictures of him, thankfully with well thought out planning I was able to - just wait until you see the portrait I got of him.

He also made appearances to the entrance ring between every few races.