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    Amateur travel photographer Khader Al Aidarous, who held his first exhibition during this year’s Dubai Shopping Festival, talks to Ben Smalley about how he turned a private hobby into a public exhibition viewed by thousands of people.

   “Photography to me is all about capturing a mood which reflects the human spirit of the place you are in,” explains Khader Al Aidarous, who recently exhibited his stunning collection of images from around the world for the first time.

   The articulate, yet softly spoken, 41 year-old UAE national has amassed hundreds of photographs from his travels to countries as diverse as Somalia, Mexico, Argentina and the USA over the past two decades, but has only just begun showing them to others.

   “I come from a very conservative family so it wasn’t easy for me to get into photography when I was young,” he explains. “I started right after high school when I was 18 or 19 years-old, which is fairly late really, but it was always just a hobby.

   “Then, almost three years ago, a friend of mine who works as a photographer at one of the local newspapers saw some of my photos and asked me: ‘What’s the point of taking photos and having them in your home just sitting there doing nothing?’ I asked what he meant and he said: ‘Just go ahead and show them to people, or else what’s the point?’”

   It was only during the Dubai Shopping Festival in March this year that Khader seized the opportunity to do just that with his first exhibition, which was held at the Bur Juman shopping mall.

   “The theme of the Dubai Shopping Festival was ‘One World, One Family, One Festival’ and I thought it would be the ideal place to exhibit my work. I contacted Bur Juman and the Dubai tourism department who were really very helpful - they provided me with a location and gave me all the assistance I needed.”

   Khader chose images from 16 different counties to reflect the theme of the festival, and was instantly bowled over by the public response.

   “People were coming up to me saying ‘wow you have been to all these different places,’ and there were people who thought it was interesting to see that a guy from the UAE had visited all these countries as they didn’t think we had the kind of mentality to capture other places, rich or poor - and that’s what has really encouraged me to do more now and visit other countries.”

   Khader, who works as a television director, studied film and TV production in the US after graduating from high school in the UAE and soon discovered the joy of traveling – either through work or by taking holidays.

   “I am not a professional photographer but when I travel I always take my camera and, if I get the chance to shoot, I will shoot,” he says matter of factly. “When I am visiting a place, if I see something interesting I just capture it, and that’s all.  I have never taken a single class in photography - I have just taught myself from books and experience as my photos have always been just for myself. I never thought of exhibiting or showing them before, it’s been a case of learning as you go along and enjoying it.”

   Khader has traveled extensively in North America, South America, Asia and Europe with his camera, and plans to visit China next.

   “It’s hard to say which is my favourite place from all the countries I have been to. I love nature and, in terms of nature, I would say Latin America is my favourite – particularly Chile and Argentina. I have pictures from a place called Pocha in Argentina, which is a very colourful town where people are just enjoying their lives even though they are in the middle of this huge economic crisis.

   “There are technical aspects of a good photograph such as exposure and composition, but mainly I concentrate on the subject and the point I am trying to bring out. I have one great photo in Chile in a local fish market in a remote village where the people are dressed very casually and there are two policemen in the background in full uniform, and right away I thought it was an interesting image that I wanted to capture.

   “I have another picture of a woman in Somalia which was taken during the drought and civil war there and her face just says ‘This is my life here.’ It’s about capturing the mood and the human spirit in different places, although that was the most dangerous place I have been to. Some people were very upset and started throwing things at me. They just had this anger about themselves and the rest of the world because of their situation.

   “In terms of meeting people and seeing interesting things I would say my favourite country is Egypt. Every single person has an expression, which says: ‘take a photo.’ It was a really interesting place for me, but the worst place I have been to is Singapore because I had my two cameras stolen and I don’t have a single photograph of my trip.  I have learnt to keep my films with me at all times - you can replace a camera but you can’t replace the pictures on a film!”

   Following the success of his first exhibition, Khader now has plans to show his work at the Cultural Foundation in Abu Dhabi, and also hopes to participate at a forthcoming art festival at Bur Juman.