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Qatar tribune
Ailyn Agonia
Doha
An eye for beauty, a flair for art and an insatiable curiosity. These are some of the traits that have propelled award-winning photographer Oscar Rialubin to the top in his chosen field.   
The Filipino talent who has been a resident of Qatar for eight years continues to bring glory to the thriving Filipino community in the country with his photographs that have earned recognition from various local and international competitions.
What has been his recipe for success? “Taking the winning shot, patience is the key. You wait for the perfect moment and lighting. Do the research and think of a unique way to interpret the concept. Master your fundamentals, study the artistic composition and keep on shooting!” Rialubin fondly shared to Qatar Tribune. 
His recent achievements include being named the first winner of FOCI, Qatar-America Institute’s inaugural photography competition held last year. His entry titled “Red, White and Blue” earned the nod of top caliber judges which included Qatari portrait and landscape photographer Sara al Obaidly. 
With the amount of dedication and heart Rialubin put into capturing the perfect image for the competition, he said it is one of his most favorite among his award-winning photographs. 
“I never really prayed to win any of my awards, except for this particular competition. I know it is God’s will and power that helped me win this. The photo as well is somewhat emotional for me. Almost two hours of waiting in the rain to capture the perfect image paid off. I witnessed before me the colours of the US painted across the skyline of Qatar. For me, it is not every day that one gets to see and capture such a representation of the union of two countries,” Rialubin said. 
The year 2019 has proved to be one of the best years of Rialubin in his five-year photography career. Aside from winning the prestigious photo contest celebrating Qatar-US partnership, his photograph also landed on the cover of the Fall 2019 edition of Reside Magazine by Sotheby’s International Realty. The image captured the intricacies of the architecture of the National Museum of Qatar (NMoQ). The same photo titled “Rose of the Dessert” also bagged the bronze award in the 2019 Tokyo International Foto Awards. 
“The original idea comes from Doha Sothebys’s International General Manager MR. Seran. He wanted a detailed portion of the NMoQ for the cover of Reside Magazine. When I presented some shots, he picked one angle and requested that I do it again with no deep shadows and not a nighttime, so I replicated my shot at early dawn. I loved the final image for the magazine cover so much, I used it as my entry for the architecture-building category of the 2019 Tokyo Internal Foto Awards which fortunately bagged the bronze award,” according to Rialubin. While another of his photograph won in 2019 Qatar Ramadan Photo Contest. 
However, Rialubin shared that the most memorable among the local and international photo competitions he had participated in to date is the 2015 CBRE Urban Photographer of the Year where his image titled “Xyclops” was chosen as the winner among over 21,000 entries from 113 countries. 
He said, “Aside from the award, I was made to experience a once-in-a-lifetime travel. I flew from coast to coast, west to east, from California and Wyoming to New York. It was a great opportunity shooting the Grand Teton valley, Yosemite and Yellowstone National Park- which my firstborn son would like to visit one day- and the concrete jungle of New York. It was during this time that I realised that photography is my calling, and that perhaps it was time that I transformed it from a hobby into a profession.” 
Rialubin holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Architecture and previously worked as architectural designer and renderer before working as 3D graphic designer and animator. Instead of further exploring his field of studies, the experience of traveling the world with his camera made Rialubin fully embrace the world of photography. He has never looked back since then. Currently, he is working as a photographer and videographer for Sotheby’s International. 
“I started photography as a hobby 12 years ago and I am doing it professionally for five years now. My calling had brought me to various countries and among the memorable destinations for me is the UK, US, Oman and several parts of Europe because on a photographer’s perspective they have it all; from nature to urban landscape architecture and streets,” he said.
When asked about his dream project or photo subject, Rialubin said that he hope to pack his bags one day and take a snap of Meteora in Greece to capture its rich architecture, monasteries and fairy tale like nature.
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25/01/2020
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