Catalin Marin is an amazing photographer based in Dubai, UAE, who specializes in architectural and interior photography as well as corporate and environmental portraits. His website is a treasure trove of beautiful pictures which are a delight to behold. The great thing about his blog is that here he shows his readers how the correct use of technology and editing software can dramatically improve the quality of the photographs. His trick is to show both the post edit version of the photograph as well as the raw photograph as captured by the camera, on mouse hover. There is a world of a difference between the two images. If you are in anyway connected to photography, I would seriously recommend that you peruse his blog and see the effects for yourself.

His creative imagery has been used by a number of corporate clients like Virgin Australia, Dunlop and United Colors of Benetton etc. The high-points in his career were when his photograph titled "Foggy sunrise in Dubai" was selected to be the image of the day for the month of November' 2011 on National Geographic and became the most popular photo of the day for the month of November and ended up being included in the best photo of the day images of 2011 on Nat Geo and winning the Best Asian & Oceanian Photoblog award at the 2011 Photoblog Awards. He is also an avid traveler and likes to click away on all his travel undertakings snapping up images of people, architecture, landscapes, interiors etc. His work has been published in various international magazines, books and websites: National Geographic Photo of the Day, TimeOut Dubai etc.

Catalin was good enough to spare some of his valuable time, and talk to us about his passion for this artform. Checkout what he has to say:


Hello Catalin, Please introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Catalin and I'm originally from Romania, having moved to the Middle East about 11 years ago. I've lived in Bahrain for a few years and then moved to Dubai where I'm currently based.


How did you come up with the concept of Momentary Awe? What was the inspiration behind it?

Initially all I wanted to do was have a way of sharing my new life in the Middle East through photos, but as I started traveling more and more to exotic locations I decided to make more out of my photography and in 2004 I came up with the name. The inspiration for it was the fact that whenever you travel to a new place you are in a constant state of curiosity, of awe.























On your website, what was the idea behind showing a different images when the mouse hovers over an image? Personally I felt that it gives a dramatic effect to your images.

This is probably one of the most popular features on the blog and the reason for it was to show the readers my original images straight out of the camera. There are a lot of photographers who hold this as a secret, but I thought that it might be useful for aspiring photographers to see the originals. It also comes in handy for me, as many times I find things that I could have done better when looking at the two versions side-by-side.


What are the top sources of inspiration for your photographs? Which other photographers do you look up to?


I read a lot of blogs from other photographers, but what inspires me the most is traveling. For me, the feeling of traveling to a new place with camera in hand is exhilarating. Discovering new places, new people and new cultures always gets my creative juices flowing. As for photographers, I have followed (and eventually became friends with) for a few years now David Nightingale (www.chromasia.com), who's photoblog has always inspired me to do better. National Geographic is also a constant source of inspiration.
























What photo editing software do you use and why?


I use Photoshop mostly and for assignments I use Lightroom as it's a lot more effective at batch processing.

What are on the top shelves of your inspiration library right now? This can be anything from blogs, books, photography websites, and magazines to vintage catalogues/manuals, etc.

I always look forward to a new blog post from the great Rodney Smith (http://rodneysmith.com/blog) whom I've recently discovered, a new issue of National Geographic, a good sci-fi book or an interesting travel documentary.


Let us have a quick-fire round:

Your favourite camera?
Nikon D300s

Favourite lens?
Nikkor 24-70 f2.8

Tea or Coffee?
None. Mountain Dew

5 most important things on your desk?
I try not to have important things on my desk as I like my time spent outside.

Favorite musician?
Underworld (I know it's a band, but them as a collective)

Favourite photograph?
This always changes, but at the moment I would say this image: http://www.chromasia.com/iblog/archives/1103211403.php


If you could peek inside the studio/toolbox of any designer/artist/photographer, whose would it be and why? 

It would be Rodney Smith and it's simply because the way he handles photography is just so different than anybody else.


Apart from photography what other activities do you enjoy? How do you spend your free time?

Spending time with my girlfriend, planning for more trips takes a big chunk of my free time. I also kite-surf whenever there's some wind and if there is no wind I try and go spearfishing as often as I can.























What are your future plans for Momentary Awe?

I have many plans for Momentary Awe and in no particular order these would be updating my corporate portfolio, organizing a few workshops both in Dubai and abroad and blogging with images from Antarctica in December.

What advice would you like to give to budding and aspiring photographers?

Keep playing with your camera, taking as many images as possible and presenting those images to an honest audience that gives honest feedback.


Thank you Catalin for taking the time for this interview, we are sure many photographers will gain inspiration and motivation through you. We wish you the very best for the future.