theonlyD800inthehameau
Photography by theonlydeadheadinthehameau
Lens-Artists Challenge: Zooming
Posted on May 30, 2025
I’ve been interested in photography since I don’t remember when, but it was only when we were living in Abu Dhabi that I graduated to a proper grown-up DSLR camera. This would have been about 22 years ago.
Fired with enthusiasm, I did a couple of weekend photography courses and one of the assignments was exactly the theme for this week’s lens-Artists Challenge: Zooming.
From the balcony of our apartment we had quite an impressive panorama of the Arabian Gulf, the Corniche and.what you might call ‘downtown’ Abu Dhabi. The Sheraton Hotel was just at the end of the street, so I practiced some zooming using that as a subject.
The significance of the number 37 is that this photograph was taken around the time of the 37th anniversry of the founding of the United Arab Emirates.
Lens-Artists Challenge: Go-To Places
Posted on April 22, 2025
This week, John has set us the interesting challenge of showing our ‘go-to’ places. To be honest, I’m pretty happy to be here at home most of the time (not least because it doesn’t involve the hassle of actually getting to anywhere).
We have been very lucky to have traveled to some wonderful places, so I thought I’s just post images from three of my favourite destinations. I don’t think the first two need any further introduction…
This third one may not be quite so familiar. It’s the Corniche in Abu Dhabi as our evening cruise passed the headquarters of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, where I worked for the last ten years of my career. We have many happy memories of our time in the UAE.
Monochrome Madness: Night-time
Posted on April 5, 2025
I took this photograph of a boat that was sailing along the Corniche in Abu Dhabi at night. The original image was pretty much monochrome itself, with just a few flashes of colour from the lights on board.
Lens-Artists Challenge: Wild
Posted on March 31, 2025
Two Arabian oryx bask in the afternoon sunlight on the Sir Bani Yas Island nature reserve in Abu Dhabi.
This species of oryx was getting uncomfortably close to extinction and the establishment of the Sir Bani Yas reserve played a significant rôle in protecting them and allowing their numbers to increase. Here, they are still ‘in the wild’, as it were (there’s plenty of room), but are safe from the predations of man.
Lens-Artists Challenge: Intentional Motion
Posted on October 22, 2024
It’s almost counter-intuitive to move your camera intentionally when taking a photograph, but the effect can be quite arresting.
When I got my first proper DSLR we were living in an apartment in the centre of Abu Dhabi city. I took a couple of photography courses and this is the result of one of the exercises that was set.
With the camera on a tripod sitting on the apartment’s terrace, I aimed it at the night view, which was of a busy road with high rise buildings at the far end.. The effect was achieved with a long(ish) exposure, during which I slowly rotated the zoom lens. Weird.
Lens-Artists Challenge: Two rectangles
Posted on June 24, 2024
The Lens-Artists Challenge this week has been set by Egidio, with the theme of ‘two rectangles’. To me, that seemed like an open invitation to show a bit of minimalist symmetry.
Dusk on Sir Bani Yas Island in Abu Dhabi:
Coming in to dock
Posted on April 25, 2024
A catamaran – used mainly for sunset cruises – comes in to doCK at Sir Bani Yas island in Abu Dhabi.
Lens-Artists Challenge: Unique
Posted on December 3, 2023
Clouds are like snowflakes: no two are ever the same.
This one was floating above The Corniche in Abu Dhabi when I snapped it from the terrace of our apartment as the sun went down. Until I pulled it out of my files for this challenge, I’d never even noticed the aeroplane. I guess that makes this particular scene really unique.
Ocean Colour Scene
Posted on February 9, 2023
Cee’s topic for her latest midweek challenge is ‘calypso (ocean) colours’. This exercise in the rule of thirds is of a jet ski racing up and down the coastline of Abu Dhabi along the Corniche.
It’s a seashell
Posted on July 8, 2021
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