A Rainy Morning on the Doha Corniche

Rain is rare in Qatar, so when the rainy season arrives, I take my camera out. One morning I went for a photo walk along the Corniche. The sky was low and grey, and the Doha skyline had almost disappeared into the mist.

A little further along, I noticed a man walking with the stray cats that live along the waterfront. He was a tourist from Yemen, and he held one of them gently in his hand as if they were old friends. When he came closer, I asked if I could take his photo. He smiled and said yes, then went back to the cat as if I weren’t there.

That was what I wanted. He wasn’t posing. He was simply spending a quiet moment with an animal, under an umbrella, with the rain and the haze around him. The cat stood tall on the sea wall, reaching toward his hand, while the city faded behind them. Far off to the right, another small cat watched from the pavement.

I love how the soft blue-grey weather makes his red shirt the one bright point in the frame. It feels calm and a little tender, and not what most people expect from Doha.

Rainy days remind me that the best photographs often come when you slow down and let people be themselves. I’m grateful to the stranger who let me share a small part of his morning.

This photograph, titled “City of Peace”, received an Honourable Mention at Tasweer Photo Festival 2024 Qatar .