The falling sunlight in Manhattan cast a golden red light on New York City's landmark St. Patrick's Cathedral spires, with the blinds and shades in the background seeming to provide an old movie tone backdrop.
The golden brown and biege shades and vantage point made me think of a lookout in spires of old buildings and castles.
For today, it was a reminder to look out, inspire the world and ourselves with God that lies within us, not needing a priest or a cathedral to connect with that Supreme Being and divine inspiration.
© 2010 IMRAN™
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Tags: 2010 D300 Framed IMRAN ImranAnwar Manhattan New York New York City Nikon Outdoors Square
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Euro-Trav Social Climber - IMRAN™
My 82nd post picked in Explore! Thanks to my beautiful beloved companion Shasha for the many awesome photos she took of me during our amazing time together in Berlin, Germany, five years ago. She took this candid by calling out to me as I was going up a staircase to see if this place was worth exploring. I had made this trip to Germany EXACTLY 25 Years after my first visit there.
© 2017 IMRAN™
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#ThrowbackThursday, #IMRAN, #Berlin, #Germany, #travel, #portrait, #graffiti
Tags: Berlin Germany graffiti IMRAN Imran Anwar portrait Throwback Thursday Travel
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I had stepped out of my then office on 52nd Street near Radio City Music Hall when I took shot this handheld panorama on an iPhone 4S. Unfortunately even four years later, with PhotoShop CC 2017 the program fails to properly stitch actual Spherical panoramas. Doing the upper view accurately would take too long so I hope you will just enjoy the street scene with some inaccurate processing above my name.
© 2012-2016 IMRAN™
Tags: 2016 360 Architecture buildings Cars equirectangular Flickr History IMRAN ImranAnwar iPhone iPhone 6+ Lifestyles Manhattan New York New York City Panorama people Photoshop Red Shopping Spherical Street summer Travel USA East Patchogue
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Present Of A Golden Moment In The Present Praying For Another Golden Moment One Day In The Future. I arrived at the Holy #Kaaba in #Mecca at the perfect time. It was just before dawn, on the first Friday of the #Hajj season when you cannot get a visa to go for #Umrah. But without my lifting a finger, #God arranged for permissions from the top person in government, have a flight despite the maximum rush and weekend, and a hotel at the doorsteps of the grand mosque, even without asking. After the ride from Jeddah Airport to the holy city of Makkah, I checked in and left my small bag of a change of clothes for my return trip in the hotel room. I walked straight out onto the courtyard, walked a few steps and, with beating heart and bated breath, stepped into the grand mosque.
On another day I will tell the story of the feelings, the thoughts, the hurricane of emotions that went through me as I caught my first glimpse of the Holy Kaaba. This picture was taken later, before I started my Umrah, but after I had been blessed to say the first of five prayers I was able to perform next to the House of God.
You can see the dark blue sky above the top left edge as the early dawn light was breaking through the black night. But the sight in front of me was even more magnificent. The elaborately embroidered cover of the otherwise very humble structure that is the Ka’aba itself, the Golden door glittering in the lights before the golden sunrise light would shine on it.
My thoughts though were not on Gold but on God.
Though I am not a great practising #Muslim and love the finer experieces in life, I am not into jewels and precious metals. I do not wear any jewelry like a bracelet, or ring or neck chain, because the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) frowned upon men wearing those.
At that moment, what my whole mind, body and soul were trembling focused on were my prayers that the Almighty God open the doors to heaven for both my late grandfathers that I never met, both my late grandmothers whom I was blessed to know as a child and much later, for my beloved incredible parents better than whom I am yet to meet any two people in the world.
I prayed for the souls of departed relatives, friends and people who had been good to my parents in their journey through life. I prayed for God to bless my siblings and other living family members, present and future, and those who I may not even have been able to get to know yet, praying for them to have healthy, happy, long, blessed lives. I prayed for good human beings of any nation and religion who were gone but who had been good to other human beings. I prayed for dear friends and others so they would not suffer and recover their healths and happiness.
I prayed for those people alive today who spread love and kindness, joy and happiness, around the world no matter who they are or what nation or religion or race they are. I prayed for the doors to God’s blessings to open upon us all.
And, more than anything, I prayed that when it was my time to go submit my soul in front of the Almighty, may some even small deed or word of mine be enough for God to order the doors of Heaven to crack open just enough for me to reach in and touch my parents hands and faces one more time. Amen.
Imran
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After being blessed to do my Umrah during Hajj season in Makkah (Mecca) Saudi Arabia this year, I was able to do some more Tawaaf (walking in a circle around the Holy Kaaba) the next morning before I had to catch my ride to the airport for my return to Riyadh.
Even at 1030 AM and despite it being the end of summer, the heat was incredible. But I was able to capture several great photos with my cell phone camera.
This incredibly detailed photo is a 50MB composite of four individual photos taken with the Lumia 1020. After improving the contrast in iPhoto, I pulled them into Photoshop to do a Photomerge and got this image.
The best part was being able to catch the blue sky above to the floor of the House of God, in one image, with the thousands year old site and the grand modern architecture behind but without any of the cranes doing massive expansion on the other side.
It is so amazing in detail you have to view it in full size and zoom in on the Gold lettering around the cover of the Holy Kaaba. You will be able to make out the texture and feel like you can touch it.
Enjoy feeling like you are really there next to me, and please remember me in your prayers.
Imran
© 2014
Tags: Architecture Blue God Gold Hajj IMRAN ImranAnwar Islam Kaaba Landscapes Lumia 1020 Mecca Outdoors peaceful Photoshop Saudi Arabia Sky Travel
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