Happy Mother’s Day to all the mommas out there!  I was reflecting on the other images I’ve shared on Mother’s Day, which to be honest are just whatever image was up next, I think this is the first one I’ve ever shared that featured an obvious mother.  So after nearly 20 years, randomness finally won out! Ha!

Anyway, this week’s image is again from my time in United Arab Emirates earlier this year and was taken inside the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi.  I happened to stop by this beautiful mosque after I was done with my meetings one evening and managed to catch sunset – a definite sight to behold.  I was milling around, waiting for the sun to set and ultimately trying to stay out of the way of other people wanting to snap a photo when I noticed the long shadows on the floor being cast by other visitors entering the main courtyard.  There was a sign dead center of the walk way that people naturally had to walk around, so I positioned myself just behind that and snapped away as people came around and entered through the doorway.  I must have taken 20 or 30 shots from this spot, catching people at different stages of walking in, but I liked this one the best because it felt like the right amount of people and illustrated the shadows on the floor well, which is what caught my eye to begin with.  It just so happened that the scene included a woman pushing a stroller!  I’ll share more photos of this mosque next week, which highlight the unique, Middle Eastern architecture there, but this image I felt like was a more honest view of the place, because it featured all the crowds of people who visit every day.

More next week!

–Dan Thompson