GALLERY OF THE MONTH - JAN 2023 - ARCHITECTURAL DUBAI
One of my New Years resolutions was blogging again more than last year.
I herby like to present the "Gallery of the month", a new monthly blogpost where I'll blog about one of my many online website galleries. Generally it will be a gallery which is relevant to the time of posting and readers can expect the post to go online somewhere in the middle of the month. It will show some sample images accompanied with some text.
Having well over 100 different galleries on my website, keeping them up to date is always a challenge. While I regularly delete older work to keep it relevant, writing about some of them on a monthly basis, should provide me with the opportunity to do some clean up where needed.
When I first arrived in Dubai more than 20 years ago, the majority of my Photography consisted of Architectural work, mainly during the blue hour just after sunset. Although I'm shooting less buildings nowadays, images of high-rises, bridges and other interesting architectural structures are still being added on a regular basis.
Without a doubt one of the first few things can come to mind when one mentions "Dubai", is its interesting Architecture all over the city! So this months gallery will be "Architectural Dubai" and can be found under the "United Arab Emirates" section of the galleries.
In the early 2000's two modern buildings dominated the Architectural scene in Dubai; the "7-star" Burj al Arab hotel and Emirates Towers. Two decennia later both are still in my personal Top 5 of Dubai structures!
During the middle of the pandemic in 2020, I saw a great light reflection on Emirates Towers, a twin tower complex in the middle of "new Dubai", still being referred to by locals as "Sheik Zayed road". Pulling over the car on the side of the road, I quickly framed a few images and moved on.
One of my most favorite shots of the Burj al Arab hotel was made from Jumeirah Beach in 2015 during the blue hour, using the original X-T1. Having the image in the Fujifilm gallery in Tokyo for the official launch of the X-Pro2 in January 2016, was definitively one of my proudest moments as a X-Photographer!
Living close to where the Burj Khalifa would be build at the time, one of my biggest photography regrets is not documenting the building process better. My "Dubai Architectural" gallery does however consist of a large collection of images of the worlds tallest sky scraper. Often the most simple ones, like this one during a full moon rise, work the best. While the majority of the architectural work is shot in colour, I do occasionally use black and white for a Fine-art look.
Although always a challenge to get it organized, I managed to do a couple of rooftop shots in Dubai. I still remember how the security guard of the Index Tower let us up on the roof but didn't dare to step out himself as he was scared of heights!
We doing Architectural photography one should not limit themself to shooting buildings. Bridges can often also show interesting perspectives!
Examples are, the Tolerance bridge over Dubai Canal (above),
The blue Meydan bridge at the famous horse racetrack (above). Sometimes even going below a bridge like the Business Bay bridge (below) crossing the creek, makes for an interesting perspective!
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