Photographers capture beauty of Dhofar's Khareef Season

Muscat: Twenty professional photographers from different governorates throughout the Sultanate gathered in Dhofar over three days to photograph the beauty of the Khareef Season.
The programme, entitled Dhofar With Omani Lenses 2018, involved 21 tourist sites on the plains, mountains, beaches, and archaeological sites in the Governorate.
“The initiative was launched by Omani photographer Haitham Al Shanfari from Dhofar Governorate. Photographers were invited to participate and photograph the beauty of the tourist sites for the autumn season, taking professional artistic pictures to attract tourists, and those interested in the artistic aspects of photography, to visit Dhofar Governorate,” according to photographer Said Baquair.
Anas Al Dheeb, a 24-year-old photographer, added, “We have previously specified the locations for the photography with the Ministry of Tourism. So the campaign had included sites known to Khareef visitors, as well as other new sites, to identify them to tourist, including natural and archaeological sites in the Governorate that people will enjoy visiting.”
“This initiative was very special and beautiful, especially when I met photographer-friends and started working on a huge collective photography project,” noted Said.
“It is a nice feeling to meet a number of photographers who share one goal. They cooperate to reflect and capture the beauty of autumn in a creative way, and this happens for the first time in Khareef Season.
“Through the gathering, we learned from each other and exchanged experiences in photography, according to the different field and style that each photographer characterises on it,” said Al Dheeb.
“During the initiative, the photographers were divided into groups at different tourist sites in Dhofar. Land and air videographers should be available for each team, in addition to the photographers,” said Anas.
Al Dheeb added, “So we could shoot in remote areas of Salalah, the team left at 6:00 am and we returned in the evening after sunset. Every day, each team has to move and shoot photos at four to five different sites, so that we can cover the largest number of tourist sites in the governorate in three days.”
Photographers began to publish their photos and videos to help inform visitors about the tourist sites in the Dhofar, and the team is planning to hold a photo exhibition to showcase the photos from of the campaign.
Baquair noted, “The initiative aims to promote nature tourism in Dhofar more broadly, and we hope to organize other initiatives to other sites in the future, and include all regions of the Sultanate to highlight the natural beauty of our beloved country.
The initiative was supported by the Ministry of Tourism, Omran, Omantel, SalamAir Aviation, Shell, Beit Zubair, Crowne Plaza and a number of media sponsors, including Al Sahwa and Hala FM.
The initiative includes a group of Omani photographers who have been working in the Sultanate and are members of the Omani Society of Photography.
They have received many local and international recognitions.