This is just a teaser.. I’ve got maybe about 300 – 400 photographs I shot in the old part of Dubai this morning… I’ve just come back home (Bahrain) from the 24-hour trip and am a bit tired, so the uploads will have to wait till tomorrow or the day after!
UPDATE: I whittled the set down from 354 pictures to 77. It’s always hard (for me at least) to be objective on what to keep and what to toss. I have far too much emotional attachments to my photographs!
Anyway, Here’s the set I uploaded for Dubai’s trip… enjoy them, I certainly have enjoyed the whole morning tootling along narrow and old alleyways.
Next trip I’m going to spend around Dubai Creek… that should be fun as well.
Comments
Sneak visit…
Mmm, yummy pistachioes…definitely addictive!
Maybe your title should instead read, “Dubai man wanting to get his hands on another man’s nuts”? Hee hee hee…
Sneak visit…
I look forward to more pictures Mahmood. Dubai, and the UAE, has changed a lot the last few years. I was there for the first time 10 years ago and it has changed a lot since then. In some ways good, other ways bad. When my wife and I visit UAE we tend to stay in Sharjah which feels more like the UAE of old.
Cant wait to see more pictures………
Malik
Sneak visit…
About stores……I tell you who could make a mint here in the USA! Someone who carried quality oud at a decent price. You can buy good stuff in markets in the Gulf for about $40 and up. A similiar product here in the USA goes for $150 up, that is when you can find it. I have family and friends bring it back when they go to the Gulf, when I am really hard up I go to al-hediya.com from Kuwait and buy it there.
There is NOTHING like the smell of oud, whether oil for the body or for incense. It is a bit strong for a lot of westerners, but some like me appreciate it.
Malik
Re: Sneak visit…
Here you go Malik, enjoy!
Sneak visit…
The Sinbad looking gentleman with the Khanjar kind of looks like a religious policeman with that short thobe he is wearing.
Sneak visit…
nice pic….I like all the rich, dark wooden colours. And its sort of a blend of old and new, nuts in boxes in the front and kitkats in the back!
but 300-400 photos! Thats a bit much dont you think! lol … how much memory did that take up!
[b]Chrisamillion[/b]
P.S. I had trouble logging in this moring (9.00AM Bahrain time), I think it might be a problem on your side as there are no other members logged in (unusual)…although theres every chance that its a problem on my PC!
Sneak visit…
FYI – he is an OMANI guy shopping in DUBAI …
Sneak visit…
Great pictures Mahmood and your camera kicks butt!
Re: Sneak visit…
I know! Quite a character he is!
Re: Sneak visit…
Oh thanks Nats! I’m coming to Doha soon to take some pictures there as well. I know they have quite interesting areas…
Re: Sneak visit…
I’ve really enjoyed myself away from the usual malls and just went to the old part of the city (which has been rebuilt and somewhat modernised) and see “real” people through the old narrow lanes.
The pictures took most of two 512MB cards I’ve got for the camera (I bought a 1GB card while I was in Dubai just in case I needed it!) so there is no way I’m going to upload all of them. I’ll select what I consider best or appropriate and upload those. My target is between 30 and 50. We’ll see…
Re: Sneak visit…
Yes that gentleman is Omani and a nice person too. His friend with him in that shop was abrupt, when I went in the shop and saw my camera he said in Arabic (assuming that I was not, or couldn’t understand Arabic) “I don’t want anyone taking a picture of me”, I answered that that’s fine and I won’t take a picture of him if he objected. He was taken aback a bit because he discovered that I was a Bahraini I think! But I continued to ask him why? To which he replied “this is a personal freedom issue!”
That’s fine and I respect that. I said my thank yous and proceeded to take several more pictures of the shop and their goods as well as people within it. The guy in the picture offered to “pose” for me as an apology for his friend!
The Omanis ARE some of the BEST people on Earth, and you can take that to the bank!
Sneak visit…
Wow, these are beautiful photos! Thanks for sharing them, Mahmood. I especially loved the food and spice shots. I can only imagine those wonderful smells.
Sneak visit…
Mahmood,
You’ve done it again. I could swear when I first saw the pictures of the sacks full of spices, I could smell them and I felt my nose burning sweet and sour all over again. Just like traipsing through Central Market with my mother, at least the spice sections of it!
Sneak visit…
Great phots and nice to know you enjoyed being in Dubai.
Love the pix!
[b]SO beautiful – your part of the world. [/b] All the colors, the market and even the faces remind me of the time I spent in Morocco. I took 24 rolls of 36 exp. – all slides – then did wonderful Cibachrome prints (for those that are old enough to remember the “good stuff”, pre-digital). Tragically – I lost ALL those slides. They were left somewhere between Toronto and Atlanta during a move 🙁
Loved seeing your photos … really wonderful Mahmood! Thanks!
Re(1): Sneak visit…
Is that how you are making them so rich? By shooting them in RAW? A pal of mine who is deeper into the tech part of photography says I should try RAW shooting but I’m too lazy.
Steve
Re: Love the pix!
It is Sandee. Unfortunately we tend to concentrate on achievements of bricks, mortar and glass a lot more than traditions that we have lived with for centuries. We should celebrate these just as much, if not more, than how “modern” we have become.
Re: Sneak visit…
Hey, next trip for me is about 15 minutes from my office! That’s the old Manama souq. I know it has changed tremendously since I was a boy, and I know over the next 2 – 3 years there is going to be a quantum leap there with the complete gutting and re-building the whole area into what some architects think of as how the souq should look like, so I better run there and get as much pictures as possible for posterity (and my pleasure!)
Re: Sneak visit…
No problem Sume, more are in the pipeline!
Re(2): Sneak visit…
Not at all Steve, I haven’t tried RAW yet but that’s what everybody is talking about. The main guy I’m watching at this moment is an Iranian-Canadian photographer who I would give my right arm to have his artistic flair, especially for framing and seeing things where I could just walk across and never glance at the subject, but he makes such an artform out of everything he sees that he has to be taken as a “bellweather” of photography!
He suggests that people should shoot in RAW format and then do the post-processing manually.
I haven’t done that yet, the only post-processing I’m doing is resizing and sometimes adjusting levels. I have also tried the USM (Photoshop UnSharpMask) filter and it makes a heck of a difference even to already compressed photographs, so I can only imagine what it could do with “virgin” data.
Have a look at [daily dose of imagery] and let me know what you think… to me, he inspires me to go out and shoot first of all, and second is go for quality every single time. Sam Javanrouh also has an active forum where he discusses how he gets such results. He uses a Canon 300d for most of the pictures he posts and that was certainly instrumental in my decision to purchase the Canon EOS 20D.
do I sound like a convert yet? 🙂
Re(1): Sneak visit…
I take boatloads of pictures and I agree that you should refrain from taking photos of people if they object. It’s a matter of respect.
I also take a lot of pictures at work, like company functions. I have learned not to take any photos of people who object, mostly because they are trouble. The people who object are always women who are sensitive about their looks. They will cause you more grief than that photo is worth. That photo just provides an excuse for them to vent their frustration on you.
There are plenty of nice people who don’t object to having their photo taken. I stick with them and avoid the others. If I take photos at a company function, I make sure to give them to the manager to distribute after I remove the bad and embarassing ones. If you pass them out as a coworker, a lot of women will demand you remove their photo because it’s women’s nature to be unhappy with any portrait of themselves as they see only their flaws. They can drive you crazy. If it comes from the boss, none of the women will object. That saves you headaches.
Steve
Sneak visit…
Mahmood,
These are some really interesting and well-executed photos. I liked them very much.
Steve
Re(2): Sneak visit…
Yes, I agree. It’s just not worth the hassle, blood pressure and peace of mind to even negotiate with people who don’t want their pictures taken. Walk away. There are plenty of other good photogenic people and opportunities available.
Re: Sneak visit…
Thanks Steve. I enjoyed taking them.
One thing I’ve noticed however is that I’m continuously in “manual” now as I don’t like the way the auto renders colours and sharpness. I get better compensating a little here and there but I am still learning as the camera has so much functionality that it does take a lot of practice to “get it right”, I’m having problems with high/low-contrast areas (sun/deep shadows) and see that with some pictures I have to some post-processing by adjusting levels and sharpening a bit here and there. I’m getting there though!
I’ve bought another CF card, 1GB and quite fast at 80x. Now I can switch off the jpeg compression mode completely and just get the camera to record in RAW so I can bring them in and I can control how they are going to be interpreted and compressed, especially as far as sharpening, white balancing and of course colour saturation.
Will see how those turn out.
Sneak visit…
Hey, I just wanted to drop by and say that your blog is awesome!
It reminds me very much of my home in the United Kingdom, in fact! “Why does this crazy man say this?” you might think, “the UK is half a world away from me!”
In the city where I lived, I grew accusomed to waking to the sound of the Mezzuin – in the summer from the Minaret, and in the winter on the radio at my friends’ houses. I’d get up and go suft the Internet.
Hearing you speak one moment of your new digital camera and the next about Bahrain and Islamic politics reminds me very much of my old life!
It is also nice to hear an intelligent voice from a part of the World that I really know little about – it gives one hope in humanity!
Anyway, enjoy your photography!
Sneak visit…
Some great pictures Mahmood. Eid Mubarak.
Malik
Re(2): Sneak visit…
[color=red]Thanks[/color] nice site
http://www.wardatkhaleej.blogspot.com
Sneak visit…
I believe that unidentified dried yellow root is the spice turmeric.
Re(1): Bush Inauguration Parade
They are OK pix but not good, Mahmood. The colors were too drab to make a lively photo and I was restricted in my movement so I could not frame shots as well as I’d like. I think you are framing your photos very well. Your town also provides a very nice palette of colors to draw upon.
Steve
Bush Inauguration Parade
These shots aren’t as good as yours but here are my photos from Bush’s inauguration parade:
http://steveswildride.blogspot.com/
Steve
Re: Bush Inauguration Parade
Those are good pictures Steve. What’s even better is seeing so many people who care enough about a cause demonstrate about it. Right or wrong, at least they were out on the streets in what looked like freezing temperatures.