Usman Ahmed Photography

"One's destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things" - Henry Miller

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Chicago comes out in thousands (again) to show support for Palestine. 

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Chicago's fourth rally in a week to show support for Palestine.  

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JBR Beach in Dubai.  Rolling in the warm, incredibly salty waters of the Arabian Gulf.

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JBR Beach at night. 

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Indiana University in the Spring Time.  

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Strolling around at IU on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. 

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Travel & Leisure.com lists IU as one of "America's Most Beautiful College Campuses", listing the school at #17.  Once the flowers properly bloom, it's hard to argue that the school doesn't belong in the Top 10.

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Indiana University - Bloomington is consistently ranked one as one of the most beautiful college campuses in the country.  I took advantage of a sunny, 75 degree day in B-Town and started capturing some of my favorite locations on campus.  Enjoy!

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Supposedly all of Chihuly's pieces in the garden are worth at least $1 million, although I am certain most of them are worth more. The structure on the little boat was one of my favorites.

The final image is also one of my favorites, and is so unlike anything I've seen before. Feel free to Google image search more of his work.

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The beautiful Desert Botanical Garden was my first solo expedition in Phoenix, and I'm glad I went. I thought it might be a bit boring and senior-citizen heavy (the latter was true), but this place is gorgeous.

The park also has the Chihuly works on display right now, which has made the gardens a popular site for tourists. For those unfamiliar, Dale Chihuly is an American sculptor and pioneer in the art of glass blowing. Seeing his work interwoven throughout the desert scenery makes for some stunning photographs.

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Wednesday night capped our sports double header with the Suns v Cavaliers game at the American Airways Center. We got pretty decent seats for $20, sitting in the front row of the 200 level. 

It was also my first foray into downtown Phoenix, where we also found Chase Field across the street. I wish I had more time to drive around this area -- I feel like there are some great photo opps to be had.

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Wednesday morning we took in a Spring Training game between the Chicago White Sox and SF Giants at Scottsdale Stadium.  $12 tickets get you on to the lawn on the outfield, where most people are busy drinking beer, eating hot dogs and playing with their kids (aka Wrigley Field).

Still, always wanted to check out what Spring Training is all about, and now I can cross that off my list. 

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We stayed at the Grand Canyon until sunset. In the hours leading up to sunset, we took a shuttle bus to explore various viewpoints to determine what vantage point we wanted to take in the sunset from. We ultimately realized that no matter the location, the sunset would be just as glorious.

Side bar - the temperature dropped to below 40 degrees, and we were thoroughly unprepared to deal with such cold. For folks traveling here in the winter months, be prepared.

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The Grand Canyon is unlike anything you will ever see. I had been there about 14 years ago, but I always wanted to go back. My friend was seeing it for the first time, and he spent most of the day with his camera tucked away in its case, just soaking everything in.

The majesty of the Grand Canyon can and will never be captured in any number of photos, but I still couldn't resist capturing some images to remember it by.

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We started Monday off with a bang. Or a drop. A jump? I don't know, but I do recall falling out of an airplane and it being amazing.

For all those who fear heights, skydiving is one way to conquer those fears. Granted, I still can't look over tall ledges or cliffs without getting weak legs, but somehow this felt different. I was not nervous going up in the plane at all. The actual moment of sitting with your legs dangling outside of a plane is awesome and somewhat empowering actually. You don't have long to think about it though. Your instructor/tandem jumper essentially shoves you out of the plane and then you're in for it.

I loved it though, and will definitely have to try it again. I'm thinking in Dubai this summer.

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ASU is also home to a beautiful masjid, or mosque. Having attended two large Big 10 universities, I was blown away by the beauty of ASU's masjid. We didn't have anything resembling this at University of Illinois - Urbana Champaign or Indiana University.

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We hit up the Arizona State (ASU) Tempe campus on a whim. I wasn't exactly sure what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised. The campus is beautiful. It's clean, sprawling, and (not surprisingly) incredibly walker friendly.

If these flowers are the winter collection though, I am curious to see what else Spring has to offer.