Momentary Awe | Travel photography blog

By the Creek

Catalin — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 06:04:07 +0000

On Saturday afternoon I met up with Dominic, a fellow photographer based here in Dubai, wanting to take some photographs around the Dubai Creek area. Dominic also shoots with a D300 and it was great to exchange some opinions about the camera and its replacement the D300s which I have just purchased a couple of [...]

Hanging lights

Catalin — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 07:54:18 +0000

I have posted before a couple of shots from Sir Bani Yas Island, so there’s not a lot more I could tell you about the place. This particular shot is a bit more of an unusual angle looking up at the lights that hang between the staircase of the resort. It was quite difficult to photograph [...]

Julia

Catalin — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 06:48:15 +0000

Part of my efforts to create interesting people shots in unusual Dubai locations, this photoshoot took me somewhere in the back of Al Wasl Road, in a big empty area where some interesting trees are growing straight out of the sand. Enter Julia. She is a German model based here in Dubai and she was very easy [...]

Burning rubber

Catalin — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 07:38:38 +0000

For today I thought I’ll ask you to play a little game and tell me if you can recognise this location. You can obviously tell from the flag that it’s in the UAE and for those of you living in the UAE it shouldn’t be too difficult to guess the place. Just reply with your [...]

Fighting for attention

Catalin — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 07:44:15 +0000

Camels are some of those animals that just make you laugh. I’m not sure if it’s the way they walk or the way they look or maybe just those big smoker’s teeth they show off every time they eat something. Whatever it is they’re funny! I always wanted to take a close-up picture of a camel [...]

Arabic opulence

Catalin — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 08:14:35 +0000

Probably one of my favourite places to watch the sunset over the Arabian desert, Bab Al Shams is a luxurious hotel set amidst the dunes that has a great rooftop terrace perfect for this time of year. I’ve taken photographs there before, but I can always seem to find a new angle from which to [...]

Hotels on the rocks

Catalin — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 07:41:31 +0000

I seem to be getting into a habit of photographing some of Dubai’s landmarks from unusual angles. I probably should start a photo series about this as there are quite a few shots now that could be a part of this. This particular shot is taken from one side of the Dubai Creek overlooking the [...]

Foggy Dubai #2

Catalin — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 10:08:01 +0000

This is another shot from my foray into the fog last weekend when Dubai was engulfed by a thick fog before sunrise that lasted until around 10am. The photograph was taken about the same time as the one I posted before, but in this one I tried to get a bit more of the Business Bay [...]

The warm glow of the afternoon

Catalin — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 08:56:38 +0000

I told you about Lake Baical and Olkhon Island before so there’s not much more I could tell you about the location of this shot, except that it was taken from the top of some sharp rocks that drop straight into the lake. The photograph was taken at about 8pm as the sun was starting [...]

Dibba Island

Catalin — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 05:39:06 +0000

Dibba Island (also known as Dibba Rock) is a small island popping out of the Indian Ocean close to the town of Dibba on the Eastern coast of the United Arab Emirates. We spent this weekend at the new JAL hotel right in front of the island and I managed to drag myself out of [...]