Springstone's View On The World

Your Bio

I have a passion for photography, fighting the mainstream and sticking to the Minolta/Sony family of cameras. I really love my Sony Alpha A700, it rocks!

I enjoy capturing the weird and wonderful experiences in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, and hope you enjoy them with me.

Slideshow

Most Popular Photos

023. 12 December 2008 - Human Torch

Well, you just don't see that everyday! I was stunned to see this! This guy, riding on a jetski, actually sets himself on fire and does a large lap around a lake, and then does a ramp/jump/dive underwater to extinguish the fire. And you could so feel the heat when he came past!

I actually had another daily lined up, until I captured this, and felt that it needed sharing!

Taken with my shiny new Carl Zeiss lens.

005. 22 November 2008 - Atlantis launch and world record fireworks display

Oh my goodness. Did I learn a lot on this day (was actually the evening of the 20th November). I learned that night photography, and especially that of fireworks displays is almost impossible! Definitely needed a larger aperture lens for this, and of the 200 odd pictures I took, only a couple were worth mentioning.

This one wasn't the clearest, but was part of the finale and really captured the "massive-ness" for lack of a better word. Aside from the fact that this beach was packed with spectators and we waited for nearly five hours for the main event (which finally happened at about 12:40am).

This display is now officially being entered into the Guiness Book of World Records as the largest and most expensive fireworks ($3 million blown in 5 minutes) display in history. To watch the full thing... and I do recommend it go to

http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2008/11/20/von.dubai.hotel.fireworks.worldtv?iref=videosearch

I will post the others, and you all can decide which you like better.

BACK STORY: The coordinators decided it would be spectacular to light up the entire Palm Jumeirah, the worlds largest man-made island. It really is massive, and can be clearly seen from space (looks like a palm tree - hence the name). Do a bit of googling if this peeks your interest, it really is spectacular and all a couple of miles from where I live :)

Oh, and those aren't clouds, that is the smoke from the preceding fireworks!

UPDATE: Thanks for all the kind words, and thanks for the advice Kianta!

022. 11 December 2008 - Sunset Over The Burj

Can you guess the times of day I have free to take some pictures during the week? Yip, sunrise and sunset are no stranger to me.

This one is of the Burj Dubai, the world's tallest building and man-made structure (currently at 688m). In context, you see many of the buildings around the Burj are also under construction, which is a bit of epidemic in Dubai - the whole city is under construction.

003. 20 November 2008 - My Dream Car

A day late, I know, but you will see why in the following dailies - didn't have time to post (I had the overpowering urge to get some sleep).

The Porsche has always been my dream car. Forget Ferrari and all the others, since I was a little boy, Porsche captured my imagination and for some reason the timeless shape of the 911 always appealed to me. I will one day call one, my own, till that day comes - I continue to dream...

027. 16 December 2008 - River of Light

Back to Global Village, and this scene set on a bridge looking down river. Global Village is open for 3 months of the year (winter), and features pavilions from countries around the world. In these pavilions you can buy various goods generally produced in those countries... though I suspect most of it is still "Made in China".

You will notice the Chinese lights featured in one of my previous dailies running all along this artificial river. What I really liked about this shot is how all the colors seem to blend reflecting off the water.

Hope you enjoy it too.

002. 19 November 2008 - Jaws of the Wild

Of the hundred and one pictures I took today, this one stood out. This is actually part of a palm tree (one of the ones that don't grow tall but stay at ground level). The thorns are obviously intended to deter natural "predators", in this part of the world that would be the camel.

Somehow, this reminded me of the jaws of a shark, that most have seen at various aquariums and what not (think about the row of teeth).

Daily's are hard work... that and a day job! Hope you enjoy my contribution, and ask you to review my most popular shots to date, being new, I don't want to cheat and post them later :)

001. 18 November 2008 - Construction

There is no shortage of cranes in the construction mecca commonly known as Dubai. This was taken outside my office, at the site of the new Harvard Medical School/University.

My first contribution to the dailies... hopefully I will learn a lot a share better photos in time to come.

014. 2 December 2008 - The other hobby

Something different today. My other hobby... Sadly, I don't have the time to dedicate to music as much as I would like.

Been experimenting with my new flash. I have to say that I really dislike flash photography. I hate the highlights and the bright white that envelops the subjects. I tried many different things, and discovered that a diffuser is my new best friend.

Please do share your flash knowledge, cause I am struggling a bit on this front.

Hope you enjoy this one of my guitar!

010. 27 November 2008 - Jacob's Ladder

I finally got lucky! Firstly, there was a cloud in the sky! Secondly, the cloud was in the right place! I have been itching to capture my own "Stairway to Heaven". I've seen several others here, all have been impressive, and this time I was in the right place at the right time. Minutes later the clouds dispersed, and the opportunity was gone.

Hope you all enjoy it!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING, EVERYONE!!

038. 16 January 2008 - Hang Time

My mate Shaun catching some big air, crisscrossing the dunes in the Dubai desert. It's a major family past time, and all members participate in various forms of off-road biking.

It was a difficult day to shoot being overcast, I dislike the contrast between the desert sand and the grey sky. It just makes everything look dull. Had a small bit of luck as the shine was peeking through the clouds at the time I took this one.

The action was good though, and managed to catch many shots of Shaun in the air - and his son - Brandon taking on the dunes on a quad.

Good day was had all round!

026. 15 December 2008 - Bears

I actually took this while waiting for a Venti Cappuccino at the local Starbucks, but was annoyed by the fact that the first bear, the intended subject was not the core focus, rather the handle of the coffee can was.

Inspired by Verbeasts' recent escapade into selective colors, I thought I would give it a try... with a twist. To bring the focus back to the intended subject.

Don't know how well it worked out, not entirely displeased myself, but you be the judge. Remember, I am learning a ton of stuff doing the dailies and any suggestions and comments are welcomed.

UPDATE: I didn't consider that there were others searching for the knowledge to achieve this. I've add the link below that I found, but did my own thing half way through. I'm using Photoshop CS4 now, but if memory serves, the older versions also had the different types of adjustment layers. Instead of using the Hue/Saturation adjustment layer, I went with the Black and White adjustment layer and also used 80% opacity. Other than that, I was amazed at how easy it really is to achieve such fancy post processing.

http://www.tipclique.com/tutorial/photoshop/adobe-photoshop-tutorial-selective-color/

Hope you find it helpful.

An H3 Hummer parked on the top of a large sand dune in the red desert, in Sharjah, UAE.

045. 11 June 2009 - Green

So many things to see, and for a change I was playing around with my macro lens. I liked the variations in the greens due to how the light was falling on the various parts of the branch. I also think it ended up being framed quite nicely.

032. 21 December 2008 - Skinny

Ok, it's actually taken me hours to upload this one. A couple of times a year we get to suffer severely degraded internet capabilities, because some genius drops anchor in the Mediterranean. So we suffer till approx. the 27th this time round when they promise that services will be restored. So in light of this, my apologies if I miss a day.

This is "Skinny"! So named, because he is just that! Insanely skinny! He is a member of the extended Meyer family, and equally photogenic. I really liked the comp and detail on this one... hope you do to.

I am wondering if this one could have used a little post-processing, but I really think "Skinny" makes for a wonderful subject.

Please do share your comments on my last three contributions, as I am still not comfortable sharing photos of people, especially my friends. I always want to show them in the best possible light - they are such good people - and I don't believe I do them justice.

031. 20 December 2008 - Cause you can!

Mrs. Meyer, another wonderful person and a uniquely photogenic person. Like Shaun, she avoids the camera, though she is very photogenic (I on the other hand, am not). After catching her, on many an occasion without consent, she struck a pose for me and I liked how it worked out!

We were out in the desert when I captured this one.

Hope you all like it... as I now wonder down the road of portrait photography! Please do share your comments!

Some minor PP in Lightroom to even the colors, and focus on the subject.
UPDATE: Original replaced with the updated version, some desaturation seemed to really enhance this one.

034. 11 January 2009 - Happy New Year

Phew! Like to start by wishing everyone a Happy New Year for 2009! Wish you all a fine a prosperous New Year in these trying times.

Ok, I have returned from my sabbatical, of many parties and many hang overs! I have recovered sufficiently to take up the challenge once again!

We celebrated the New Year in style camping in the deserts of Dubai. At first we had a panic as the ruler decided to cancel all New Years celebrations in the Emirate the night before, in solidarity with the people in Gaza. Later the next day (midday) we were informed that this only affected public celebrations, so we could go ahead, leaving us little time to organize for the many people attending.

The great thing about this event is that we all pitch tents around the general camp, have BBQs going all night, a massive fire in the middle and a great sound system powered by generators all around the camp. We can then party all night and stumble into our tents when we are ready to retire - so no one drinks and drives.

This was taken just before midnight, and on this night we also experienced a heavy fog setting in as the pivotal hour approached. It resulted in a remarked effect all round, just revealing the silhouettes of the many revelers.

048. 14 June 2009 - Snooze

This semi-domestic kitty was spotted perched above a make-shift doorway/arch into a giraffe sanctuary. She's sitting some 2.5 meters above ground, snoozing on a thin ledge. It really was an entertaining sight, and this kitty was totally ignorant of all the patrons passing through the arch. It must have taken some seriously acrobatic skills to get up there in the first place!

033. 23 December 2008 - Fluid Flame

Fairly simple, but I am always amazed at the fluidity of flames. This is a little fire in the desert, keeping us warm as temperatures plummet at night. It's really amazing how extreme the temperature drops as the sun sets... high 70s (F) during the day, low 30s (F) at night.

I also thought this would warm the souls of all the smugmuggers in the US and Europe, with heavy snowfall and extreme cold; I am sure a nice fire would go down well.

Seasons Greeting everyone! Merry Christmas!

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