Photographic leg-work

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. 

My first impression of downtown Dubai was its size. I’d never ‘felt’ like 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.