From portrait specialists to travel technicians, diverse photographic talents from around the globe are in town for Dubai Photo Week.
The public highlight of the Middle East’s largest annual photography event, organised by Gulf Photo Plus, was Photo Friday, at which 14 visiting professionals took part in a day of seminars and tutorials at Knowledge Village.
They shared tips of the trade, their inspirations and anecdotes with hundreds of curious listeners. Here are five things we learnt.
1Photography is valuable – so take wise steps
Like any professional skill, photography has value. But don’t get bogged down thinking in strictly financial terms.
David Hobby, the founder of Strobist.com, told how he gives up hours every year in his hometown photographing starving artists who cannot afford to pay for a photo shoot.
Offering him a break from the day-to-day “guys in ties” assignments, he says the projects are among his “most-fulfilling”, offering the artists a valuable promotional tool. The money comes back around, too – by shooting extensively in his community, Hobby’s profile rises and more work comes his way.
• strobist.blogspot.com
2With a camera, you can time travel
Any photographer knows the time of the day is key. The “golden hours” after sunrise and before sunset remain the most-prized time to shoot. Better yet is the “blue hour” of twilight, says American travel photographer Elia Locardi, when dwindling natural light mixes with the artificial light from homes and streetlamps. Use a longer exposure to exploit the contrast between warm and cold.
But such moments are fleeting and imperfect – use a tripod and shoot a range of identical stills as the light changes, then merge them in post-production to create the ideal composite image.
3Your photos can be used for good
A photo doesn’t only speak a thousand words – it can raise a thousand dollars – or more. Through her organisation, Beautiful Together, lifestyle photographer Tamara Lackey uses powerful images of children in orphanages and foster care across the United States and Africa to raise funds for new and better facilities.
The UAE-based Swedish photojournalist Katarina Premfors introduced us to Photographers for Hope, a non-profit group whose members travel the world to document youth projects in the hope that their images will help to promote social change.
• www.beautifultogether.org; www.photographersforhope.org
4Nothing is too mundane to photograph
In the increasingly banal world of mobile/social photography, it is easy to think only a serious subject deserves lens time. Magazine veteran Andrew Hetherington proved quite the opposite with his second personal project – a photo book documenting all the hotel rooms he stayed in over four years. The photos were organised simply by room number. Work is under way on a follow-up – documenting the tray table in front of him on every flight he takes – and the results are oddly compelling.
• www.whatsthejackanory.com
5Mobile photography really is magical
The advent of Instagram might have rankled with the photographic establishment, but American photojournalist Ed Kashi showed how mobile photography can be used to put important issues in the public sphere.
Instagram has broken down the conventional barriers and made publishers of anyone with a smartphone, he says.
Kashi uses his own account to communicate with 230,000 followers directly, often to highlight advocacy projects and injustices around the world.
• www.instagram.com/edkashi
• Dubai Photo Week runs until Friday. For more details, visit www.gulfphotoplus.com
rgarratt@thenational.ae
Brief scores:
Toss: Sindhis, elected to field first
Pakhtoons 137-6 (10 ov)
Fletcher 68 not out; Cutting 2-14
Sindhis 129-8 (10 ov)
Perera 47; Sohail 2-18
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The biog
Simon Nadim has completed 7,000 dives.
The hardest dive in the UAE is the German U-boat 110m down off the Fujairah coast.
As a child, he loved the documentaries of Jacques Cousteau
He also led a team that discovered the long-lost portion of the Ines oil tanker.
If you are interested in diving, he runs the XR Hub Dive Centre in Fujairah
War 2
Director: Ayan Mukerji
Stars: Hrithik Roshan, NTR, Kiara Advani, Ashutosh Rana
Rating: 2/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Jetour T1 specs
Engine: 2-litre turbocharged
Power: 254hp
Torque: 390Nm
Price: From Dh126,000
Available: Now
Navdeep Suri, India's Ambassador to the UAE
There has been a longstanding need from the Indian community to have a religious premises where they can practise their beliefs. Currently there is a very, very small temple in Bur Dubai and the community has outgrown this. So this will be a major temple and open to all denominations and a place should reflect India’s diversity.
It fits so well into the UAE’s own commitment to tolerance and pluralism and coming in the year of tolerance gives it that extra dimension.
What we will see on April 20 is the foundation ceremony and we expect a pretty broad cross section of the Indian community to be present, both from the UAE and abroad. The Hindu group that is building the temple will have their holiest leader attending – and we expect very senior representation from the leadership of the UAE.
When the designs were taken to the leadership, there were two clear options. There was a New Jersey model with a rectangular structure with the temple recessed inside so it was not too visible from the outside and another was the Neasden temple in London with the spires in its classical shape. And they said: look we said we wanted a temple so it should look like a temple. So this should be a classical style temple in all its glory.
It is beautifully located - 30 minutes outside of Abu Dhabi and barely 45 minutes to Dubai so it serves the needs of both communities.
This is going to be the big temple where I expect people to come from across the country at major festivals and occasions.
It is hugely important – it will take a couple of years to complete given the scale. It is going to be remarkable and will contribute something not just to the landscape in terms of visual architecture but also to the ethos. Here will be a real representation of UAE’s pluralism.
BMW M5 specs
Engine: 4.4-litre twin-turbo V-8 petrol enging with additional electric motor
Power: 727hp
Torque: 1,000Nm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 10.6L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh650,000
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Mamo Year it started: 2019 Founders: Imad Gharazeddine, Asim Janjua Based: Dubai, UAE Number of employees: 28 Sector: Financial services Investment: $9.5m Funding stage: Pre-Series A Investors: Global Ventures, GFC, 4DX Ventures, AlRajhi Partners, Olive Tree Capital, and prominent Silicon Valley investors. What are the GCSE grade equivalents?
- Grade 9 = above an A*
- Grade 8 = between grades A* and A
- Grade 7 = grade A
- Grade 6 = just above a grade B
- Grade 5 = between grades B and C
- Grade 4 = grade C
- Grade 3 = between grades D and E
- Grade 2 = between grades E and F
- Grade 1 = between grades F and G
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
Electric scooters: some rules to remember
- Riders must be 14-years-old or over
- Wear a protective helmet
- Park the electric scooter in designated parking lots (if any)
- Do not leave electric scooter in locations that obstruct traffic or pedestrians
- Solo riders only, no passengers allowed
- Do not drive outside designated lanes
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
Brief scoreline:
Liverpool 2
Keita 5', Firmino 26'
Porto 0
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
Kat Wightman's tips on how to create zones in large spaces
- Area carpets or rugs are the easiest way to segregate spaces while also unifying them.
- Lighting can help define areas. Try pendant lighting over dining tables, and side and floor lamps in living areas.
- Keep the colour palette the same in a room, but combine different tones and textures in different zone. A common accent colour dotted throughout the space brings it together.
- Don’t be afraid to use furniture to break up the space. For example, if you have a sofa placed in the middle of the room, a console unit behind it will give good punctuation.
- Use a considered collection of prints and artworks that work together to form a cohesive journey.
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Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
- Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.
Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
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