Say Cheese UAE Photo booth goes to Ras Al Khaimah

We were in the beautiful coastal town of Ras Al Khaimah yesterday to provide the Say Cheese UAE photo booth service to the Ras Al Khaimah Free Trade Zone's Annual party. We left Dubai at around 12:00 noon and entered the T-junction at the end of Emirates road an hour later. Our final destination was the Hilton RAK Resort and Spa.

Ye programmed her GPS - set with a male voice - to direct us to the hotel and soon after entering RAK, it told us to make a left turn. That move brought us to a small street in a residential area that looked a bit run down. Deciding to trust in technology we followed the road till we reached the corniche area and joined a street snaking by the side of the beach. After a few meters Mr. GPS announced: "Your destination is on the left side".

On our left were sand, pebbles and the wide, open beach with absolutely no buildings near it. We burst out laughing! Now, I really regret not stopping to take a picture - or a video.

So I brought out my map, found a main road, found the few landmarks I had marked on it and drove while Ye figured out what happened to Mr. GPS. Turns out it tracked the wrong Hilton - which is quite curious, since there were no structures in the area it identified. She put a new one in and that led us again, to the wrong Hilton. Luckily, the Creek Plaza's sign - one of the few landmarks on my map - was visible so I knew it was the wrong destination. After a few more turns we finally found the hotel. My low tech map won over GPS!

The venue was gorgeous! The whole party was set on a terrace overlooking the sea. Everybody there was busy setting up and practicing so we joined the fray. After we found our allocated space, we hauled our stuff in and prepped for the party. The management required privacy for the photos so there will be no online uploads from us but here is a sample, one of the test shots we did:

Test shot

The afternoon light was just fantastic and I have to say, very flattering indeed. The photos all looked fabulous. The Say Cheese UAE Photo Booth was open from 3:00 - 7:00pm and there was that short window when, as the sun was going down, the sky was going dark creating a very dramatic background for the pictures. Ahh... too bad I cannot post any of those photos.

We barely had any time for a breather. There was only a few minutes after the program officially started when the photo booth was emptied of clients, but even that was quickly replaced by a queu. It was great fun - the party was a blast, all the guests were smiling and happy, and we are simply glad that Say Cheese UAE Photo Booth was part of it.  

5th Annual Bayanihan Festival celebrations

It rained all morning yesterday, it was unbelievable. A stormy day, complete with thunder and lightning in always sunny Dubai. We got stuck in the car, unable to bring the Say Cheese UAE Photobooth materials down, les the rain messes up with the set-up specially the electrical systems. When the rain stoped up, we still couldn't bring the stuff in because the ground was wet and the park management has cancelled authorization for electrical supply.

Finally, at around 3pm, we got the go signal that we can set-up. We found a place and the fun was on! We had not time to relax since the queue did not stop. It thinned at times, but there was always somebody in line.

Here are some images from the event. If you were there and had your photos taken, you can download, tag and share your photo from www.Facebook.com/SayCheeseUAE.

And some photos of around Dubai and the rain. :)

5th Bayanihan Festival in Dubai

Yikes! I should be in bed, but instead, I'm still preparing for tomorrow's gig - we're going to be at the 5th Annual Bayanihan Festival in Dubai. Say Cheese UAE is the official Bayanihan Photobooth so if you have time, please drop by. Program starts at 9am and photobooth opens at 12:30. See you there!

Say Cheese UAE logo design

If I'm not relaxing with clay work, I'm working on a wide variety of projects - logo designs, websites, banners, backdrops, posters, videos, whathaveyou. With The Kitsch Company launching a photobooth, I have been concentrating on its branding. So today, I want to share with you the results so far.

The brief: simple, clean lines, easy to remember.

With the name Say Cheese UAE, the obvious choice was a smiley and with the service being a photobooth - fun hats! So Mr Say Cheese UAE was created. The first font we used was Party Let but we eventually changed it to the open font licensed Spicy Rice, created by Astigmatic.com - it has a solid but playful feel that fits with the brand.

My first draft had a very cheesy, toothy grin. 

Next came Mr Say Cheese UAE without the ear to ear smile and a smaller more spotlight-y yellow background. 

And here we see the final.

We wanted the website to contrast dramatically with the clean lines of the logo, so we ended up with a boudoir inspired combination of deep red and dark grays. The image below is from the actual Say Cheese UAE instruction slides (the images that show in the LCD when you have your photos taken) and it also reflects the overall theme of the website.

We're still tweaking the site so it's not ready yet to show. But Say Cheese UAE Photobooth Fun is up and running so, if you need photobooth services in the UAE, just contact info@saycheeseuae.com.

In the meantime, I'm off to work on some frames - Say Cheese!

Like the Say Cheese UAE Facebook page, by clicking here.