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What’s unusual about Khan is that his is the only company in Dubai offering VR photography services outside of the real estate industry. He says the market in Dubai is good but, as elsewhere, he needs to educate people, and perhaps more so than in North America or Europe, where people are better acquainted with the myriad applications for VRs.

He deals with all the standard questions: What is virtual reality? What are its advantages over still photography? QuickTime vs iPix vs other formats? “After giving presentations, most of them say ‘no’, even though they have a huge budget,” he says, noting that most decision makers are unaware of VR. “They pay attention when they see fullscreen VR. They say 'Wow', but are unwilling to pay more money for a fullscreen VR over a cylindrical VR in Flash format. Freelancers sell their services, particularly in the real estate field, for anywhere between US$140 to $300.” He goes on to say that web design companies do offer virtual tours but they are outsourced to freelancers.

Khan also experiences the strange looks and comments from people that most VR photographers have encountered. When he shoots panoramas, people laugh and ask why he’s shooting skies and floors. So he has taken it upon himself to educate his market, and promote his services, through covering local events such as the defense exhibition IDEX 2005 and the 9th Dubai International Holy Quran Award 2005, which are all available on his website, iMedia.

Khann’s panoramas from the Camel Race Festival, a two day traditional sporting event with 26 races, have a visceral impact that places you firmly in the desert, dust and animals. The races are open to UAE nationals and each rider and camel can enter only one race. Competitions are held for different age groups, from 10 years up to 70 years. Winners received approximately US$5500 and a golden sword. And he felt honored to shoot the first virtual tour of Shah Rukh Khan (King of Bollywood) with his wife Ghouri, and other well-known Bollywood stars at the Global Indian Film Awards, held in Dubai and attended by 15,000 who came to see Bollywood stars Shahrukh Khan, Salman Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Akshay Kumar, Saif Ali Khan, Lara Dutta and Shahid Kapur, who left the crowd spellbound. The company plans to shoot virtual tours of the Dubai Air Show, which is going to take off on Nov. 20, 2005.

click here to view the Camel Race Festival

Check out iMedia for a taste of Dubai and the Middle East.
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