Soldato
- Joined
- 27 Dec 2005
- Posts
- 17,315
- Location
- Bristol
As some of you may know I travelled to Abu Dhabi and Dubai to visit my dad and watch the F1 last month. I took my 60D and a few lenses and used it as a bit of a photo op. I came back with over 2,500 photos, whittled down to about 1,000 usables, and here's what I think are the 100 best. I couldn't narrow it down any further and 100 seemed like a good number... sorry!
Anyway I hope you enjoy . Here goes...
1.
Abu Dhabi is the largest of the seven member emirates of the United Arab Emirates. Its skyline is dominated by office blocks, lending itself towards business rather than tourism.
2.
Sheets drape across the local fruit and vegetable market, providing shade from temperatures that regularly exceed 40 degrees.
3.
4.
5.
Whilst the local population of emiratis and ex-patriots are wealthy, poverty is still prevalent in the outskirts. Here a vegetable market worker carries the day's rubbish to a ship yard.
6.
The fish market neighbours the vegetable market and the city's dock.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
Two office buildings dominate the landscape in one of the city's few central parks.
13.
Feral cats make up the majority of the local 'wildlife'. Here a kitten takes a restbite from the afternoon sun.
14.
15.
16.
Religion is still a dominant part of the culture, but visually it can't help but feel under pressure from western businesses and the influence they bring.
17.
18.
Hotels are the centre for all social gatherings amongst the wealthy, being the only places that sell alcohol. As a result even the most modest of hotels often have extravagant interiors.
19.
A tour boat passes the city skyline for one of the city's few tourist activities.
20.
Local Indian workers spend most of their evenings gathered across the city's shoreline for an evening of free entertainment.
21.
22.
Dune bashing is a popular excursion activity for tourists.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
A desert-dwelling local Indian enjoys sunrise before his day managing a tourist camp.
30.
The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque is the largest mosque in the UAE. Open day and night, it can house up to 40,000 during Eid.
31.
32.
33.
34.
The Yas Marina Circuit is the venue for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and cost over £800million to build in 2009. Bruno Senna was the first driver to complete a test run on the circuit and Sebastian Vettel holds the lap record of 1:40.279.
35.
Onlookers take in the afternoon's qualifying laps at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2012.
36.
37.
38.
Michael Schumacher struggles in Abu Dhabi, qualifying only 14th on the grid.
39.
40.
41.
Lewis Hamilton, after qualifying on pole and leading the race for 20 laps, loses drive and is forced to abandon the race.
42.
Hamilton walks back to the pits whilst team mate Jenson Button continues the race to go on and finish 4th after losing out on a podium position to a determined Vettel.
43.
Webber acts as watchman to Vettel before retiring from the race due to an accident.
44.
45.
Webber takes his watchman duties quite seriously, tussling with championship-hopeful Alonso through a chicane.
46.
Alonso spins out after the tussle but quickly corrects his position and continues the race to finish 2nd.
47.
Sebastien Vettel flies around the track. After being disqualified from qualifying in 3rd position, he started the race from the pits but quickly made his way through the field. Eventually finishing the race in 3rd place after a last minute overtake of Button, Vettel helped seal his championship win.
48.
This fence designates what is public land and what is the Sheikh's. The fence borders the motorway to Dubai for miles, snaking its way around petrol stations. There's little behind the fence other than desert but it acts as a reminder of power.
49.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan is Abu Dhabi's Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces and founder of the UAE. His face is seen everywhere, from posters in cafes to huge pillars watching over the city's highways.
50.
A Porsche flies past the Atlantis, one of Dubai's stand out hotels and tourist attractions.
51.
The Dubai Mall is the world's largest shopping centre and as such features all manor of architecture, including this lobby more akin to a religious building.
52.
The Burj Khalifa sits atop the Dubai Mall and is the tallest man-made structure in the world at 829.8m, dwarfing the equally tall sky scrapers that surround it.
53.
54.
55.
The World, one of Dubai's more adventurous construction projects, can be seen in the distant sea.
56.
The Burj Khalifa, renamed to honour its main financier, UAE President Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, towers over the surrounding downtown districts.
57.
58.
59.
Despite a well-working metro system, cars and taxis are still the lifeblood of the Dubai transport system thanks in part to cheap fuel at a cost of about 30p a litre.
60.
Dubai is known as the city of gold thanks to its cheap labour, allowing tourists to buy crafted gold at little above its spot price.
61.
62.
It's quite easy to get taken away by the glamour that Dubai exudes, but the majority of its workforce are Indian or Filipino. Here two Indian shop workers in the gold district break for lunch.
63.
Despite being traded for centuries, the gold sold nowadays is for the few who can afford it, often western businessmen and tourists.
64.
65.
A doorman works at a shop in the gold district who are proud makers of the world's biggest gold ring.
66.
Two armed guards break for lunch before continuing their patrol of the winding gold souk.
67.
68.
69.
70.
71.
Neighbouring the tourist-driven gold Souk is the more traditional and local market streets, selling everything from utensils to spices.
72.
73.
74.
75.
A fisherman cleans his feet before retiring for the day. Seafood is prevelant in all traditional Middle Eastern dishes due to the locality of the sea to most cities and the lack of sustanance that the desert is able to provide.
76.
Water boats dominate this part of the city, providing cheap access to the other side of the river at a cost of about 10p a crossing.
77.
78.
A local fabric worker takes a quick nap in the limited shade that the city has to offer...
79.
...before awakening and asking for his photo to be taken. The local population are very friendly, and the city also boasts an extremely low crime rate due to high morals and traditions combined with severe punishments.
80.
81.
82.
Local men walk past a derelict mosque, its walls covered with unused shoe holes.
83.
The Burj Al Arab is not only the fourth tallest hotel in the world but also stands on an artificial island. Sometimes referred to as "the world's only seven-Star hotel", its star rating is disputed.
84.
Whilst much of Dubai's construction projects are complete, the city is still full of building sites. This photo taken from The Palm shows its artificial beaches laden with pipes ready for to be laid for the dozens of hotels yet to be built on this spit of land.
85.
This is a familiar sight throughout the UAE; scaffolding covered with basic cladding in order to cover up building work and excavations.
86.
The Grand Mosque, newly built, cost over $500million to build.
87.
88.
The mosque features 82 domes of seven different sizes.
89.
A local man leaves afternoon prayer across one of the many connecting pathways surrounding the mosque.
90.
The mosque is 'only' the eighth largest in the world, covering an area approximately the size of 5 football fields.
91.
92.
93.
94.
95.
Valet's await the arrival of the next car at the entrance of Abu Dhabi's Emirates Palace, a hotel and tourist attraction.
96.
97.
The Emirates Palace is the 2nd most expensive hotel ever built, costing over £3.9 billion.
98.
The interior is decked out throughout with gold and marble. The topmost floor has six Rulers' Suites which are reserved solely for Emirati royalty and dignitaries.
99.
100.
Anyway I hope you enjoy . Here goes...
1.
Abu Dhabi is the largest of the seven member emirates of the United Arab Emirates. Its skyline is dominated by office blocks, lending itself towards business rather than tourism.
2.
Sheets drape across the local fruit and vegetable market, providing shade from temperatures that regularly exceed 40 degrees.
3.
4.
5.
Whilst the local population of emiratis and ex-patriots are wealthy, poverty is still prevalent in the outskirts. Here a vegetable market worker carries the day's rubbish to a ship yard.
6.
The fish market neighbours the vegetable market and the city's dock.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
Two office buildings dominate the landscape in one of the city's few central parks.
13.
Feral cats make up the majority of the local 'wildlife'. Here a kitten takes a restbite from the afternoon sun.
14.
15.
16.
Religion is still a dominant part of the culture, but visually it can't help but feel under pressure from western businesses and the influence they bring.
17.
18.
Hotels are the centre for all social gatherings amongst the wealthy, being the only places that sell alcohol. As a result even the most modest of hotels often have extravagant interiors.
19.
A tour boat passes the city skyline for one of the city's few tourist activities.
20.
Local Indian workers spend most of their evenings gathered across the city's shoreline for an evening of free entertainment.
21.
22.
Dune bashing is a popular excursion activity for tourists.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
A desert-dwelling local Indian enjoys sunrise before his day managing a tourist camp.
30.
The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque is the largest mosque in the UAE. Open day and night, it can house up to 40,000 during Eid.
31.
32.
33.
34.
The Yas Marina Circuit is the venue for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and cost over £800million to build in 2009. Bruno Senna was the first driver to complete a test run on the circuit and Sebastian Vettel holds the lap record of 1:40.279.
35.
Onlookers take in the afternoon's qualifying laps at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2012.
36.
37.
38.
Michael Schumacher struggles in Abu Dhabi, qualifying only 14th on the grid.
39.
40.
41.
Lewis Hamilton, after qualifying on pole and leading the race for 20 laps, loses drive and is forced to abandon the race.
42.
Hamilton walks back to the pits whilst team mate Jenson Button continues the race to go on and finish 4th after losing out on a podium position to a determined Vettel.
43.
Webber acts as watchman to Vettel before retiring from the race due to an accident.
44.
45.
Webber takes his watchman duties quite seriously, tussling with championship-hopeful Alonso through a chicane.
46.
Alonso spins out after the tussle but quickly corrects his position and continues the race to finish 2nd.
47.
Sebastien Vettel flies around the track. After being disqualified from qualifying in 3rd position, he started the race from the pits but quickly made his way through the field. Eventually finishing the race in 3rd place after a last minute overtake of Button, Vettel helped seal his championship win.
48.
This fence designates what is public land and what is the Sheikh's. The fence borders the motorway to Dubai for miles, snaking its way around petrol stations. There's little behind the fence other than desert but it acts as a reminder of power.
49.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan is Abu Dhabi's Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces and founder of the UAE. His face is seen everywhere, from posters in cafes to huge pillars watching over the city's highways.
50.
A Porsche flies past the Atlantis, one of Dubai's stand out hotels and tourist attractions.
51.
The Dubai Mall is the world's largest shopping centre and as such features all manor of architecture, including this lobby more akin to a religious building.
52.
The Burj Khalifa sits atop the Dubai Mall and is the tallest man-made structure in the world at 829.8m, dwarfing the equally tall sky scrapers that surround it.
53.
54.
55.
The World, one of Dubai's more adventurous construction projects, can be seen in the distant sea.
56.
The Burj Khalifa, renamed to honour its main financier, UAE President Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, towers over the surrounding downtown districts.
57.
58.
59.
Despite a well-working metro system, cars and taxis are still the lifeblood of the Dubai transport system thanks in part to cheap fuel at a cost of about 30p a litre.
60.
Dubai is known as the city of gold thanks to its cheap labour, allowing tourists to buy crafted gold at little above its spot price.
61.
62.
It's quite easy to get taken away by the glamour that Dubai exudes, but the majority of its workforce are Indian or Filipino. Here two Indian shop workers in the gold district break for lunch.
63.
Despite being traded for centuries, the gold sold nowadays is for the few who can afford it, often western businessmen and tourists.
64.
65.
A doorman works at a shop in the gold district who are proud makers of the world's biggest gold ring.
66.
Two armed guards break for lunch before continuing their patrol of the winding gold souk.
67.
68.
69.
70.
71.
Neighbouring the tourist-driven gold Souk is the more traditional and local market streets, selling everything from utensils to spices.
72.
73.
74.
75.
A fisherman cleans his feet before retiring for the day. Seafood is prevelant in all traditional Middle Eastern dishes due to the locality of the sea to most cities and the lack of sustanance that the desert is able to provide.
76.
Water boats dominate this part of the city, providing cheap access to the other side of the river at a cost of about 10p a crossing.
77.
78.
A local fabric worker takes a quick nap in the limited shade that the city has to offer...
79.
...before awakening and asking for his photo to be taken. The local population are very friendly, and the city also boasts an extremely low crime rate due to high morals and traditions combined with severe punishments.
80.
81.
82.
Local men walk past a derelict mosque, its walls covered with unused shoe holes.
83.
The Burj Al Arab is not only the fourth tallest hotel in the world but also stands on an artificial island. Sometimes referred to as "the world's only seven-Star hotel", its star rating is disputed.
84.
Whilst much of Dubai's construction projects are complete, the city is still full of building sites. This photo taken from The Palm shows its artificial beaches laden with pipes ready for to be laid for the dozens of hotels yet to be built on this spit of land.
85.
This is a familiar sight throughout the UAE; scaffolding covered with basic cladding in order to cover up building work and excavations.
86.
The Grand Mosque, newly built, cost over $500million to build.
87.
88.
The mosque features 82 domes of seven different sizes.
89.
A local man leaves afternoon prayer across one of the many connecting pathways surrounding the mosque.
90.
The mosque is 'only' the eighth largest in the world, covering an area approximately the size of 5 football fields.
91.
92.
93.
94.
95.
Valet's await the arrival of the next car at the entrance of Abu Dhabi's Emirates Palace, a hotel and tourist attraction.
96.
97.
The Emirates Palace is the 2nd most expensive hotel ever built, costing over £3.9 billion.
98.
The interior is decked out throughout with gold and marble. The topmost floor has six Rulers' Suites which are reserved solely for Emirati royalty and dignitaries.
99.
100.
Last edited:
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