Hind Mezaina

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Hind Mezaina, is a prominent UAE-based photographer and blogger. Through her photography work and her blog ‘The Culturist’ – Hind explores and presents unusual aspects of the city. These presentations as well as her creative outlook on what’s happening in Dubai urged us to ask her to be one of our ‘creators without compromise’ series with Fujifilm.

See below to learn more about Hind Mezaina’s uncompromising creativity and to view amazing images from creek-side under the theme of night lights taken with the FujiFilm Finepix X100.

Conquering the Blogosphere…

“I started the blog in December 2009, I wanted to share a cultural side of Dubai (and I don't just mean galleries and art exhibitions!). Through my blog, I want to feature the creative scene that is happening in Dubai and across the country - literature, poetry, music, film, theatre and  design. Basically, I wanted to show there's more to Dubai that meets the eye, but I also like to share things that interest me from around the world. I am also very passionate about movies, photography, music and travel, so if I find any content that looks good visually (and that's worth sharing) I feature it on the blog.  Once in a while I will rant about things that annoy me, but most of the time - I share stories that bring a smile to my face and hope it does the same to my readers.”

Learning Curve…

“I’ve learnt that he world is full of wonderful stories, creative people and adventures to experience. I spend a lot of time online to find content for my blog and on days when I stumble upon a beautiful video, a heartwarming story or a project that moves me, I can't wait to share it on the blog. And to my amazement, I've received emails from strangers and friends who've said how some of my blog posts make them happy (you have no idea how much comments like that mean to me!). It validates the hours I spend online when maybe I should be out in the real world. But in a way, and this can sound very cheesy, I feel I am also experiencing the world through the internet.”

Changing Skyline…

“Dubai is always changing - the only constant in this city is change. The face of the city is changing at a very fast pace and I do wish it slows down to develop character and to maintain a sense of history. It saddens me that old street names are being renamed, or childhood spots are no longer there or will disappear soon. Progress and development doesn't mean constant destruction and re-construction, getting rid of the old to make place for the new. Dubai sometimes feels like a middle aged woman that's always undergoing constructive plastic surgery. But the changes do make me see new things that inspire me to photograph or write about - but I always try seek out the older parts of town, to cherish them for as long as possible.”

Lights, Camera, Action…

“Any place by the creekside - is my favourite part of Dubai. I love walking along the creek - whenever I get a chance/whenever the weather allows it. There will always be something amusing and charming to find along the way, whether an odd street sign, odd cargo waiting to be shipped off, a group of people doing T'ai Chi (I swear that last part is true, I saw it with my own eyes, on the Deira side of the creek!).

The creek is the heart of the city and I hope it never changes. The day they start demolishing the old buildings for high rise towers is the day that I will officially be heartbroken by Dubai.”

Check out Hind's photos below for a look into her world. Photos taken at creek-side in Dubai.

You can find Hind's blog posts here, her photography work here and you can follow her on twitter @hindmezaina

All photos taken with the Fujifilm Finepix X100 camera.