Photographic leg-work

The photo galleries below are experiments and groundwork for an interpretation of the genre ‘landscape’.
The Landscapes of Dubai are completly constructed and controlled in complex ways by the ruling government

 

 

Construction sites are everywhere in Dubai. The noise from them is both incessant and ubiquitous. The sounds of nature are absent, replaced with jackhammers, clanging scaffolding poles and the collective noise of stuff being built.  The city started in earnest in the 70s from a small cluster of settlements near Dubai Creek to a modern port, city and commercial hub. Its rate of expansion and development shows no signs of slowing. 
Considerations for the images included whether to use a wider angle lens or to get in close.
I use my digital camera to do exploratory work before going back and taking the images with my anlog film camera.
I also experimented with recording building sites from different parts of Dubai around where I live (Dubai Marina district).
 
 

 
 

My first impression of downtown Dubai was its size. I’d never ‘felt’ a city before, not like this. It was like being in the land of giants. It reaches upwards, an architect’s dream with its stated ambition to be the city of the future. Blade Runner without the rain. It is also a city where everyone travels by car and can feel quite anonymous.

I took a direction where I wanted to capture aspects of its grandeur and size and purposely avoided showing people in the images. I also used both a 23mm and 55-200mm zoom lens to help compress the images so backgrounds appear larger and closer.
 
 

 
 
 
Roadside-scapes

Humans leave their mark on the landscape everywhere. While travelling across the UAE I was struck by these roadside cafes, many were close some often open, located in very rural parts of the country. How did they survive? After travelling many hundreds of kilometres, they soon become part of the landscape.

 
 
Metro-scapes
I use the Dubai metro a lot and one day bought a first-class ticked as it was a quite busy time of day. First class is located at the front of the train and ideal for capturing the city as the train run more of less down the center of downtown Dubai.
These images are shot on a analogue camera (Nikon f4) and I use a roll of Ektar 100.