"People thought I was crazy" laughed Khaled Abu Romman while taking us through his fascinating experience of chasing the glowing phases of the moon.

What started as a casual picture of the radiant moon one evening turned into a project of a thousand images taken over 25 evenings and late nights.

It all began on Dhul Hijjah in the Arabic calendar which was on September 5. He has always loved taking photos of the moon and recalls an incident that occurred in August "In the initial pictures I took the moon always ended up looking like a big bulb. So I started research-ing online on how to take better pictures. I followed the instruc-tions took a picture and the result was good."

The following month Khaled chanced upon the moon while on a street in Dubai; it was the first day of the crescent moon.

Day 1

Khaled shot the moon about an hour after it turned dark so that the moon would be clearer and would shine in all its glory in the pictures. He decided to practice his skills and brought out the essentials - tripod Nikon 5200 camera Sigma 70-300mm lens and a remote controlled timer. Why a timer? He explains that every time you manually click the camera moves. Once you've positioned it a remote controlled timer keeps taking shots without interfering with the camera focus.

Day 2

Khaled hadn't planned a project to document the phases of the moon. He simply thought of it as a way to practice what he read up online. But on the second day he made up his mind that he would photograph the moon every day. "The moon was barely lit and I was sitting on the ground with the camera taking pictures. A lady came and stood next to me and began gazing into the sky too. She asked me what I was doing. I said I'm taking pictures of the moon. She said moon? Where is the moon? I laughed and said oh no you can see it through the camera."

Day 3 to 10

"In the beginning it was easy" he says "Because the moon could be spotted right after sunset." He took about 50 to 60 pictures daily. It was not long before the moon started appearing later - 8pm 9pm 10pm. The budding photographer says 11pm was late but still fine although he had to wake up and go to the office in the morning.

Towards the end of the month "the moon only appears about an hour or two before sunrise. Some nights I did not sleep." To get away from the buildings for a good spot to shoot the moon Khaled had to walk a few metres every day.

He says "the heat and humidity were the major contributors making it harder to stay on track." It takes about an hour or more to get a good angle and perfect shot of the moon. The heat made it difficult to concentrate. The moon keeps moving. So every time you need to take a picture you have to adjust the camera the lens and the tripod position. You don't need to move from the spot but a lot of alterations have to be made.

"The evening starts with the camera in one angle and ends after an incline." The moon has to always be photographed while it's in the centre of the camera in order to include all the details. As the month progressed he says the challenge got tougher. Staying up until 12am was a feat especially since he had to work his day job that same morning.

Day 11

On the 11th day her recalls he was setting up to shoot for the night in a residential locality in Al Khail gate where there a many buildings all around. That's when a security guard came up to him and questioned his doings. He says it was funny because the security guard thought he was taking pictures of the buildings and of the residents and was only dissuaded when the pictures of the moon were presented.

Day 17

It was particularly windy on the 17th day. "The tripod kept shaking and I was getting frustrated. It was 2am. I kept saying 'Please God just one second. I need only one shot'. Finally I went and stood behind a big bus trying to dodge the wind and there I took the pictures."

Day 20

"I did not sleep on the 20th day. I stayed awake through the entire night." He usually visited the Sharjah government website to check when the moon would appear and at what time it would be the highest in the sky. "It's best to shoot the moon when it's highest in the sky" he says.

Day 25

"I missed the moon on the last day. It was too foggy. I went out but the skies weren't clear. It was the last day but what could I have done?"

Through the stardust

"I am very happy with the results of this project. I used to ask for advice and today I'm the one sharing it." He is looking forward to his next adventure - catching the meteor shower which is foretold to occur in the start of December.

Kymberlee Fernandes After finding her passion in writing Kymberlee decided to make a living out of it. She covered lifestyle and food as a journalist in Bombay for 3 years before moving to Dubai. While Kym isn't working she's usually rooting for her favourite football team or scouting for new music.