Born in the KSA

A good walk with friends, enjoying  the warm weekends that the Eastern Province offers in March. A good chance for street shooting.

The Eastern Province is famous for its oil-rich soil that attracted thousands of Western Expats to work for the major Oil&Gas or Engineering companies. Local people here are used to see us walking around in trousers and shirts: they are friendly and open still proud of their own costumes and cultures.

On the so called Corniche, people interested in physical activity can find a nice place were to walk or jog freely: the green grass to one side, a huge beach to the other. Open air physical activity is not that popular compared to our home country but is not forbidden either: there has been and still is an awareness effort on the benefit of a more healty lifestyle and we could appreciate a strong increase in the number of joggers since the last three years. Of course all these activities are carried out in full respect of the Islamic laws: men and women, or better, families and singles, are separated and carry out their activities independently.

One last word about taking pictures and specifically street photography: you can easily read on the net about punishments for whoever takes pictures in Saudi Arabia, cameras confiscated and so on. I was prepared for the worst and very concerned whenever I had my camera in my hands. As you can see there’s nothing like that as long as you behave correctly and in a polite and respectful way: I have never been confronted and many times I have been invited to either shoot or take a photo with other people. Always check whatever you read on the net. Including my words!