(MENAFN - Muscat Daily) A week-long photography exhibition, 'Views of Germany - Views of Oman' opened at Bait al Baranda on Saturday. Organised by the German-Omani Association and inaugurated by its honorary president Sheikh Qais bin Salim al Khalili, the exhibition contains around 45 photographs in two sections. The first section includes pictures taken in Germany by Omani students currently studying there. Among them are winning entries from the 2011 and 2012 editions of photo contests organised by the association.The second section “ 'From the Banal to the Sublime' - is a collection of pictures by Dr Thomas Zacharias, professor emeritus of Munich's Fine Arts Academy who has travelled to Oman on numerous occasions. His photographs depict everyday life and have captured scenes which tourists normally miss. He has also made a photographic comparison between Oman's aflaj and water channels on the streets of Paris.Georg Popp, secretary general of the German-Omani Association, said, ''We held photography contests asking Omani students for a real impression of the country (Germany). They were asked to capture on lens anything they found different about the country, its true essence, things that amazed them and those which irked them. There will be a similar exhibition in Germany later. We might then bring it to some other place in Oman like Nizwa or Salalah,'' he said.Bruno Kaiser, the association president said, ''The German-Omani Association is pleased to present the exhibition on the occasion of its 20th anniversary. Germany's student exchange programme with Oman is the oldest in the Arab world.'' H E Hans-Christian Freiherr von Reibnitz, the German Ambassador to Oman said, ''We are also celebrating 40 years of diplomatic ties with Oman. The core of such ties is strong relations between the people of the two nations. What we are going to witness here is yet another aspect of fostering of relations by the expression of pictures, which is something very, very special.''
