Almost Daily
Goal: To capture a photo worthy of the top 1000 of all time
007. 24 November 2008 - Drama or is it?
Minding my own business at the local 24/7, ordering a hot dog on my lunch break, and wouldn't you know it - the fire alarms go off. Now, to put it in context, Dubai has been plagued by disastrous fires over the last couple of years. So we all evacuate to the designated area, and within minutes, Civil Defense, police and ambulances arrived from everywhere. They even landed a helicopter between the buildings, but I missed that with the camera.
Turns out is was all a fairly elaborate fire drill. Phew! Seemed very real for a while there.
Of all the pictures I took of the event, I really liked this one. There is so much tell about this photo, but I think I will let the photo speak for itself...
006. 23 November 2008 - Burj Al Arab by night
Taken on the 20th November, while waiting for the record breaking fireworks display, this is the Burj Al Arab as lit up at night. The Burj Al Arab is one of the most photographed and famous buildings in the world, and at night it is so much more spectacular. Every 10-15 minutes the colors change, and the even have lighting effects (running strobes up and down the arches, flashing strobes at certain points, etc etc). It is really a sight to behold!
It really pained me taking these pictures, because we were quite far away on a beach (a mile or so) and I discovered how hard it is to take great pictures at night. There was a ton of back light (ambient) from the city behind (yellow glow) and of course, the distance with a fairly small aperture resulted in few focused photos out of lot.
This one wasn't the clearest, but I loved the colors, which is why it made it to my daily.
Hope you enjoy it.
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!
004. 21 November 2008 - Construction At Sunset
I'm beginning to appreciate the challenge of the Dailies, either getting out and taking the picture, or having to choose just one!
Managed to capture this sunset on my way home from work, setting behind the construction of a couple of new towers on Sheikh Zayed Road (SZR). This particular part of SZR is lined with sky scrapers, many of which are still under construction.
Just to the left of this site is the Burj Dubai, also still under construction, and currently the worlds tallest building and the worlds tallest man-made structure. I have a photo including the Burj, but it lost out to this one.
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...
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.