The long quest to become a better doctor, has affected our personalities in different ways, some of us begin studying Medicine bringing with them various experiences and skills other than sitting for hours to read enormous books and references, I always said that each one of us has a talent, but Medicine crushed most of these talents, leaving some people the shadow of the souls they were when they began this long journey.
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One of our close friends who had many talents, and hobbies, was (Aladdine Geleidi), aka (Ala). (Ala) used to be a multi-interests person, he was a good swimmer, a fisherman, a pigeon fancier, a computer nerd, a machinist, a musician, a painter, and a photogragher. (Ala) used to have these various hobbies altogether, enjoying them all, and being good at them all, but when we started medical school; he started to focus his efforts on one or two hobbies. These were painting and photography.
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in late 2001 as we were starting to leave Libya one by one, to pursue further medical postgraduate training, (Ala) headed for Canada, and by 2004 started working as a physician in the province of Newfoundland (north east Canada), he spent his spare time focusing on sharpening his interest in photography, buying the best equipment in the market and reaching to the level of profissionalism.
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Recently I found his new web site that is dedicated to present his works in artistic digital photography, exploring the landscape and wild life of Newfoundland and other Canadian provinces. The pictures speak for themselves: the subjects, the eye catching scenery, the lights and shadows, all give strong evidence that (Ala), is not just clicking on the button of the Camera, but he enjoys and tastes what he is creating.
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Each passing day, makes me more confident that to be a doctor is not a problem, actually its the simplest of things, but to become a better doctor, it doesn’t only need studying and working hard, but also a creative talent to enjoy life as a whole. (Ala) is just one of the friends and colleagues that not only astonish us with their other side, and may the best side, of their personalities, but keep on amazing themselves everyday with what lies beneath the ashes of burnt memories, and the snow of cold hearts.

(Ala) Thank you and keep going…

I invite you all to visit (Ala Geleidi)’s website and enjoy his photographs.