Abu Dhabi Photo Story

Atlantis: Staycay to the Starz..

noreply@blogger.com (Mallocup) — Sat, 20 Oct 2012 08:47:00 +0000

Atlantis is the ridiculously opulent hotel that is situated on the crescent of The Palm, Dubai. That said, it's an amazing place to stay, and especially so when Sandance is happening. Dubai is a mongrel to get around so.. Driving through the centre of the palm.. Arriving at Atlantis.. Checking in.. Taking a walk through the hotel.. The amazeballz "Royal" pool.. A quick trip to Aquaventure.. After grabbing a burger on the way back to the room: running into royalty! Just hangin in the room.. Woke early and found that my camera was missing. Wifey quickly realized that it was probably in the bushes that I'd fallen into on the way back to the hotel. She was correct! Walking back to the room at 5am (after finding my G12 in the bushes): pics of the model of the hotel.. Dubai sunrise from room 11310..

Sandance - October '12

noreply@blogger.com (Mallocup) — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 18:28:00 +0000

We made our second trip to Atlantis and the palm, and this Sandance was even more epic than our first. Mat Kearney: I had never listened but got it straight away. Dude is a fantastic songwriter and played an amazing set.. Random late afternoon attractiveness.. The legend that is Frankie Knuckles.. Mid evening randomness.. And the main event: The Fray.. Epic, epic, epic.. Everything post The Fray was bound to be a blur, but it was all fun as fuck nonetheless.. And it all ended with some great bush: that I unceremoniously fell into and cut myself to shit. Sandance October '12 was fricken awesome!

Crash: an Abu Dhabi Photo Story

noreply@blogger.com (Mallocup) — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 19:28:00 +0000

the other day a guy opened his door into my car and made minor scratch on the rear door and wheel hub. he was a being a dick about it so I followed procedure and had the traffic police come decide whether or not he had to pay. cop comes and automatically tells the guy that he was at fault, and that it was his responsibility to pay. I found out from accident report that he is one wealthy motherfucker (son of AD mercedes dealership owner). take the accident report to my insurance to open a claim. have all the correct documents so all's good.. take the claim/referral to mussafah - the 'industrial zone' of abu dhabi, located about 35 km south, deep in the desert. finally found the garage I was destined for and parked. this is when things began to get weird. I found the guy that was handling referrals, surrounded by a group of other guys. he knew I was coming so he quickly grabbed my claim and went to survey the (minor) damage to my car. I understood that he was assessing the damage, but what were all these other guys doing? I decided to document this strange situation and they very quickly caught on to the fact that I was shooting away.. by now I'm beginning to realize that the extended group, all with clipboards of their own are delegates from different body shops in the area, taking relevant details so that they can then provide quotes to the insurance company. they thought the 'foreigner taking pictures' was kinda funny so I kept shooting. they were done with my car in about 2 minutes. I was handed back my insurance referral and told that I would be contacted about how and when the damage to my car would be fixed. by this stage a couple of them were encouraging me to follow and shoot some more so.. I did! driving in AD, especially in a smaller car, you are regularly subject to aggressive 'vehicular' bullying, and sometimes it doesn't always end well. it was a total spin to spend 15 mins in a place where there was so much road carnage, but the last couple of pics.. really sent it home. tl;dr: if you scratch someone's car don't be a dick, and drive safe..

Al Ain Oasis..

noreply@blogger.com (Mallocup) — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 18:55:00 +0000

A trip to an oasis always seemed like it would be much more exciting. It was interesting for a look I guess..

Camel Farmerama..

noreply@blogger.com (Mallocup) — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 11:49:00 +0000

A trip to Al Ain just aint complete without a bit of the old camel farming..

Tiger: like a boss..

noreply@blogger.com (Mallocup) — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 12:46:00 +0000

The UAE turns 40: Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Mallocup) — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 16:46:00 +0000

Better late than never..

The UAE turns 40 #1: Car Party on 30th..

noreply@blogger.com (Mallocup) — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 16:23:00 +0000

Walking down 30th to the corniche..

Flatscreen on top of your SUV anyone?

The whole walk down was one big crazystring party - then we saw the tiger..

Random Street Shots #2..

noreply@blogger.com (Mallocup) — Wed, 11 May 2011 17:57:00 +0000

Central AD, street stylee..

The tin can pyramid in the centre of the desert..

noreply@blogger.com (Mallocup) — Mon, 09 May 2011 13:48:00 +0000

About an hours drive outside of AD city lies the Emirates National Auto Museum. It kind of snuck up on us in the form of a big old dusty jet plane and a corrugated iron pyramid, stuck out in the middle of nowhere and looking quite odd. Needless to say that this bizarre set of seemingly random structures, stuck halfway between the Grand Mosque and Liwa, inspired us to stop and have a look around!

The first thing we unavoidably noticed as we got closer was the massively over-sized four wheel drive restaurant poking out over the fence.

Upon entering the car park we were greeted by the massive tin shed-pyramid and very possibly the strangest looking caravan we'd ever seen.

Unfortunately the museum was closed for renovations, but I managed to slip around the corner and take a walk around the heritage village thingy.

Would you tap this?

noreply@blogger.com (Mallocup) — Wed, 04 May 2011 10:28:00 +0000

Random tap action, central AD, time irrelevant..

(Not the) Capitol Records building..

noreply@blogger.com (Mallocup) — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 13:06:00 +0000

Kinda reminds me of it though..

Jebel Hafeet - AD city stylee..

noreply@blogger.com (Mallocup) — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 03:00:00 +0000

The Corniche and its various parks and beaches is easily my favorite thing about Abu Dhabi, it's like an island of serentity on the edge of a dustbowl of hell. A little harsh, maybe.. In any case there are many things that you encounter along the sprawl that are designed to get your mind-motor running, and I guess one of them is the Jebel Hafeet walk. To be honest, I would have had no clue that this odd little concrete maze of fake rock was a mini-me to the landmark that is JH had I not taken the drive in the month or so prior to happening upon it, but it doesn't really matter because it's just as purposeless and bizarre anyway..

Jebel HaFeeT..

noreply@blogger.com (Mallocup) — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 16:13:00 +0000

It was time to take a trip outta town. Drove up to check out Al Ain with my mate, the GaNgster of GeEz, and while we were there we pointed our little Mondeo rental towards the mountainous lump of rockiness that is Jebel Hafeet. A nice little drive on the way up, stopped here and there to take a few snaps, but unfortunately that was about all there was to it. By the time we'd had a little look around at the top we were ready to return, to the relative comforts (and bar) of the Intercontinental Hotel..

Random Street Shot #1..

noreply@blogger.com (Mallocup) — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 17:13:00 +0000

Picture is unrelated..

Breathe easy..

noreply@blogger.com (Mallocup) — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 02:27:00 +0000

Well that's comforting, I guess..

The Mysterious Victoria..

noreply@blogger.com (Mallocup) — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 03:10:00 +0000

Is this thing some kind of dredge? I have no idea of what this hulking ship does as it lumbers along the Corniche, but I do know that it looks pretty cool, if not completely out of place..

The Amazing Melting Bin of Trash..

noreply@blogger.com (Mallocup) — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 02:50:00 +0000

When I first noticed this molten blob of blackened mush smouldering away on the pavement I had no idea of what it was, that was until I smelled it. There is no mistaking the poisonous stench of burning plastic, and this thing stunk of it. That established, the mystery remained: who would set fire to a plastic garbage bin in the middle of a sunny Friday morning?

Here's what it looked like before..

Desertttttttttttttttt....

noreply@blogger.com (Mallocup) — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 18:03:00 +0000

A trip into the desert on a 'Desert Safari' is kind of like going to see a bad movie for all the wrong reasons, it's a little interesting at first but by the time you reach the second act, you know exactly how it will end and start covertly looking at your watch.

Firstly there's the random dude riding a camel.

Then there's the obligatory visit to the camel farm..

Where you may make some interestingly shaped friends..

Not all of them being camels..

And you realize that after a while you're probably shooting way too much camel pRon..

And that even the most gorgeous Brazillian models can make asses of themselves..

You realize that not having used the DSLR for a while has seriously compromised your ability to shoot in unfamiliar (and ever changing) light..

And that happiness can be captured in little more than a smile..

Dusted..

noreply@blogger.com (Mallocup) — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 07:00:00 +0000

Damn dust is everywhere around here. I can't help but think that scratching someones paint job up like this would be fair grounds for assault in other countries..

Streetscapes 01..

noreply@blogger.com (Mallocup) — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 14:13:00 +0000

Central Abu Dhabi, street stylee..

Daiso.. Yup!

noreply@blogger.com (Mallocup) — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 17:07:00 +0000

I don't even remember what I was looking for but I ended up at Al Wahda Mall (again) the other day and in my never ending search for whatever I was (am?) looking for, tucked into corner on the ground floor I came across a Daiso. At first I was like 'Okay.. Another faux representation of something from somewhere else..', but as soon as I entered I was blown away at just how authentically "Daiso" this store is.

Everything is imported from Japan, and with most items being priced at 7 AED (about 150 yen), I was well impressed.

なつかしいなー！　>_<

Somewhere Somebodies Father..

noreply@blogger.com (Mallocup) — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 15:03:00 +0000

Dumb reference I know, the old series (of Somewhere Somebodies Daughter) was valid, and did get me some attention, most notably from the digital media baron that is Danny Choo, even if it did only amount to a couple of event invitations and being introduced to someone as 'a guy that takes photos of high school girls'..

Indulgent self-referencing aside, Abu Dhabi Mall has big cars all through it and apparently, somehow they are giving them away. These ladies must have gotten lucky and the dude must be famous, which I realize does little more than inform you that I know very little about the subject of this post.

It never stopped me before..

Bikes..

noreply@blogger.com (Mallocup) — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 15:32:00 +0000

There's a definite correlation these days in 'the west' between your bike and your style, and I just can't seem to find that here. Granted, I'm probably way too green to make that call but that said, the pedal-powered machines that are scattered around the city do have a certain a charm about them, an authenticity if you like, that could only of the 'here and now'.

p.s. The Durcus One is on its way..

I don't know what's up what's with all the bubble wrap and cardboard, but I do know that I could do with some 'Hero Jet Gold'. Another observation was that the owner of this classic Abdab machine definitely needed some tips on how to use a bike lock..

The 'Snow Bike' actually got me a little excited, especially when I noticed that it was the 'Supereme' model..

I'm not sure what's actually going on here..

And back to the basics..

And the broken..

Colours..

noreply@blogger.com (Mallocup) — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 18:00:00 +0000

Twas a long, drawn out sweat-drenched walk that led me inadverntently becoming aware of this little gem of consumer electrickery. I was out looking for the better of the two musical instrument stores here in central AbDab, and out of part disorientated frustration and part need for a few air conditioned moments, I ventured into (the abstractly named) Colours. I asked a few questions about the TV receivers that they were selling and no sooner had turned to resume my quest only to be stopped in my tracks by a pile of electronic parts that could actually be the visual definition the word 'random'.

You know what my next thought was, and out came the camera..

Most of the receivers were second hand and could be yours for the measly sum of 90 DHS (about $30)..

These were the busted ones..

I was actually encouraged to take this one, the clerks were trying to get the customer to join the frivolity but no amount of giggling was going to get this chap to turn..