Trip number four to Abu Dhabi, a destination I’d never even considered before our friends moved to the UAE a few years ago. We’re all creatures of habit and I suppose this is the reason why people re-visit the same holiday venues year after year. Makes for a boring blog though! Apart from briefly seeing our friends we were there because the children are so in love with the place, particularly Louis. Three reasons for him: He enjoys travelling, specifically flying, he can spend an absolute minimum of eight hours a day in the swimming pool and also he gets away with drinking copious amounts of Fanta until he literally or figuratively pops.
It’s routine, they know the hotel, where everything is and for example enjoy walking down the familiar road to the Souk for an ice cream. I may have mentioned this before (links to Abu Dhabi 1,2,3, blog posts later), I’m not a beach/sun holiday type any more, when I was younger that’s all I wanted to do. I remember a few years ago when there was mention of a Souk just down the road, I got quite excited. Camera at the ready expecting to arrive at one of those old market places we see in Morocco. Nope, our Souk has a Starbucks, essentially it’s a small modern shopping mall. You could be practically anywhere in the world. I do get the opportunity to take lots of photos though and our friends little girl some of me…
Now, I’m not going to say: '“hey, come and look at my holidays snaps”, I know how dull that can be. “Here’s one of the Sea with the mountains in the background”…”here’s another one, but there’s a boat in it”…’Oh, here’s one of the hotel, our room is the 56th on the right, 18th floor”…”here’s another one of the sea with the beach in the background”…yes, very nice, pass that knife please, I can’t take anymore! No, I’m just throwing some photos out there that I quite like and a few words, I’ll keep it as short as possible. After all I’ve already written these snappily titled posts previously: Abu Dhabi Do’s and Dont’s. Abu Dhabi Two and the unforgettable Abu Dhabi Take Three! It’s been almost two years since we travelled abroad and so when we finally got a chance, we didn’t do that much…
I can tell you that Sam’s (my wife) thumb isn’t that big, shooting with a 28 mm lens and maybe some kind of refraction through the water will do that or she simply died due to a jellyfish bite on that thumb. To be honest I thought she was dead as I strolled down the beach and waded into the sea, apparently she was just relaxing and very much alive. A slap across the face as I attempted mouth to mouth resuscitation confirmed that! By the way, no kissing in public in Abu Dhabi, that’s a fact, I think the ’Kiss of Life” is allowed though (does anyone still call it that?). In England the sea is bloody freezing, let’s face it and no matter how much we say “It’s fine once you’re in” it’s like swimming in liquid nitrogen. You go in looking a relatively normal colour and come out either blue, or have a strange purple tinge at best. The ‘English Channel’ sea temperature on the southern coast of England averages 15c in the summer and autumn, that’s about as good as it gets. Whenever I’ve walked into the Persian Gulf I can hardly tell the difference between being in or out. The sea temperature was, and I know this because I looked it up, a wonderful 31.5c. I’m all for swimming in the sea, the rest of the family used to prefer to swim in the pool, until I encouraged them otherwise. I love the feeling of salt water and man is that sea salty, hence the floating Sam. My main reason though is one of hygiene. Yes, it could be argued that the sea or ocean isn’t that clean, but sit by a swimming pool all day and you’ll notice this: Lots of young children playing happily all day long and yet you never ever see any of them get out and walk to the toilet facilities. Just saying.
Our friend doing his fatherly duties there. Not very flattering, but I was still trying to get some Street Photography going. Not with any great success it must be said and I gave up on it pretty quickly…the guy with the cap in the last photo did make me laugh though and I quite liked the shot of the photographer on his phone waiting for the sun to set.
Instead I concentrated on the family and experimenting. The thing when I’m in a hot/sunny country I tend to get caught up with all that beautiful light. I know light is what makes photography, but if that’s all it’s about then were back to that old Form versus Content debate. My next Street Photography session is going to be in the rain I’ve decided or at least on a dull day. I ended up with lots of silhouettes and sunsets…”I’m just going to set the projector up, the first 800 slides are sunsets, then we move on to seagulls, I only managed 300 of those, but don’t worry I got lots of the hotel…”. Ready for that knife yet!
…and the odd attempt at some layers featuring the children:
I could bore you and myself even further with photos from Ferrari World or Warner Bros World, Louis had to come out of that pool at some stage after all! I detest theme parks and yet can’t wait to re-visit Las Vegas. The roller coaster rides I can leave, really it’s a total waste of money buying a ticket for me for these places and they’re not cheap. Amélie has never wanted to go on any rides, preferring to stand with me. This year she wanted to go on everything, including the one at Ferrari World that goes from 0-150mph in four seconds. Where’s the fun in that unless you enjoy passing out or having a cardiac arrest in which case you’ll love it. Luckily Sam is there to accompany them, she always seems unfazed whilst I watch everyone else getting off with that grey, sickly, scared, woozy look on their faces. A bit like me when I realise I’ve drank too much.
For the most part we sat on the beach during the day and in a restaurant or bar in the evening. I enjoyed every minute of it. Usually I like to be doing something, but it was very relaxing. Definitely worth the three PCR tests and one Lateral Flow test we took to be there. Night photography is something that has always drawn me in, especially when I see the work of others. There have been many wonderful photographers who have perfected the art of low light, Brassai is one that springs to mind. My attempts never amount too much, this skill escapes me. Generally my subjects aren’t in motion as I never use flash…
To finish here’s one night time shot I did like and it was at night in motion. I posted it on Instagram and wrote this to accompany it:
“Nothing is perfect. In the words of Leonard Cohen “There is a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in.” I like this shot taken last week, even though it’s not perfect, last time I looked my youngest daughter possessed both of her legs. It’s candid, she’s running down that lighted staircase, you get what you get and that’s the beauty.”
As always my sincere thanks go to anyone taking the time to read this blog.
All images can be opened by clicking on the thumbnails and are made using a Leica M with Summicron 28mm Lens fitted.
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