FirstLook: Waleed’s Birthday
- Arts & Culture
- Photography
Sanad, Bahrain
Photo by Khalid Alabbas
Everything is different this year.
Including my father Waleed’s birthday. He works in Oman and comes home to Bahrain every weekend. As expected, his routine changed this year. When travel was banned he was stuck in Oman. But when a plane was set to travel back to Bahrain, he was on it. Under the rules implemented by the government of Bahrain, any person who flew into the country needed to quarantine for two weeks. A few days after his return, April 12 was his birthday.
This picture shows him inside his room at our family home. My mother, who is carrying the cake, and my brother and grandmother and I surprised him. We accepted that the family reunion was without hugs and kisses, but it is enough that he is with us now.
To me, this picture depicts love and a family bond. It’s an image that one day I might show to my kids when I tell them about 2020, and maybe they will understand through this picture that no matter what circumstances the world takes you through, a family bond stays strong.
—Khalid Alabbas
@khalid_artz
You may also be interested in...
FirstLook - A blistering triumph for the back-street boys
Arts & Culture
Amid the roar of racers zooming toward the finish line in London during the 1980 Grand Prix, longtime auto-racing photographer and renowned artist Michael Turner trained his lens on a Saudia-Williams FW 07.In The Marshes Of Iraq
History
Arts & Culture
Amidst "the stillness of a world that never knew an engine... he found at last a life he longed to know and share.FirstLook: The Beauty of the Streets
Arts & Culture
This photo series began unexpectedly when I found that photographing people behind windows and maintaining a distance made me, and the people I photographed, feel more comfortable. I purposefully frame myself in the reflection of the window to see into the space I’m photographing. I feel every window tells a different story.