Undecided Dubai

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Hi All

I'm off to Dubai in march for a week of relaxation, sand June boarding and sightseeing. I'll also be taking my camera, tripod and other bits.

anyone who's been, what's about for me to photograph? I'm going to the top of the berj khalifa as a starter.

TIA
 
I live in Abu Dhabi - just down the road.

Obviously the Burj is good. The new higher-than-before viewing deck is meant to be excellent, but very expensive. The Dubai Fountains (at the base of the BurjK) run eveyr 30 minutes from 6pm, are really good and enjoyed by all visitors. Great for photos too, assuming you can get a good spot. Just bear in mind the "Golden Hour" only lasts about 20 minutes here!

As for other locations, it depends what you want to shoot. If you some real (ie less glitzy) life, head up to Bur Dubai on the creek and walk around the old souqs. Grab an "abra" (little boat!) over to the other side of the creek and there are always good shots to be had from the water. If you want architecture then try Dubai Marina - it's where the twisty building is, as well as plenty of other funny looking things.

Highly recommend taking a desert safari to get a flavour of the empty quarter. And if you fancy driving an hour and a bit down the road you can see Sheikh Zayed Mosque in Abu Dhabi. Stunning at sunset in particular.
 
If you enjoy Street photography or just generally bring in a busy hectic Street.... get in a taxi and ask him to take you to Satwa Roundabout. About 50 metres down the street is a Pakistani restaurant called Ravis. I highly recommend the butter chicken!
 
If you enjoy Street photography or just generally bring in a busy hectic Street.... get in a taxi and ask him to take you to Satwa Roundabout. About 50 metres down the street is a Pakistani restaurant called Ravis. I highly recommend the butter chicken!

You sir, are correct!! Also the Mutton Jalfrezi. You'll never want english curry again!
 
Photo highlights:

Dubai (City Centre/Tourist Trap)

- Burj Khalifa/At The Top (123rd floor)
- Dubai Fountains
- Sheikh Zayed Road - try to get up on to the roof bar of Four Points by Sheraton in the evening
- Burj Al Arab - golden hour
- The Palm - head all the way around the right hand frond and you can get some different shots of the Burj Al Arab and Dubai Skyline. Head to the left, you can get Dubai Marina
- Skydive Dubai - just generally a cool place to chill out at Zero Gravity bar too.

Dubai (the alternative side - old Dubai)

- Satwa - as mentioned by Adam, Ravi's is a very popular Pakistani restaurant. Epxect to pay a couple of quid for a curry and roti. Try the chai too.
- Bur Dubai/Naif - the old trading parts of Dubai. Some old buildings recreated in to art space - used to be called Bastikiya but not sure what it's called now. Also has fabric souks.
- Deira - opposite side of the creek to Bur Dubai. Similar to Bur Dubai but without some of the older buildings - has the spice souks and fish markets
N.B. it's work spending 1AED (about 18p) to cross the creek from Bur Dubai to Deira on a traditional Abra - it's the way most of the Indian/Pakistani residents get around that part of Dubai

Outside Dubai

- Abu Dhabi has some great sights. I've lived here for 5 years and still not properly explored but the highlight of the city has to be Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque - ladies need to cover up.
- Big Red is a large dune on the Dubai-Hatta road - it's where most of the desert tour companies start their dune bashing experiences from.
- Lusaili Camel Race Track - although not sure how much camel racing on at that time of the year - normally it's at 7am and 2pm on week days.
- Hatta Dam/Hatta - another side to DUbai (still in the Emirate, but over an hour out of the city) are the mountains, and Dam, bordering with Oman
- Ras Al Khaimah - Another Emirate - see the red dunes transition to Haajar mountains, some great roads too, especially up Jebel Jais, which is the tallest mountain in the UAE.
- Al Ain - officially within the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, Al Ain City is also known as the Garden City. It's got plenty of green area's (by UAE standards), another mountain you can drive up called Jebel Hafeet, plus a zoo.
Empty Quarter/Liwa - a long drive out - at least 4-5 hours from Dubai - you come to a large Oasis known as the Liwa Oasis. Head off the main road (still on tarmac) for about 25km out in to the desert to a dune called Tal Moreeb (loosely translates in to The Horrible) which is the tallest dune in the Middle East. During December/January they hold a festival out there which includes camel and saluki racing, falcon hunting, horse racing and most importantly the sand drag racing, where 1,500HP racers run up the steepest part of the dune! Also a motor museum on the drive out, but not much else to see.

Hope that helps. Feel free to drop me a message if you want more info on anything. Plenty more 'hidden gems' within the region, but as you're coming on holiday, I guess you don't (or at least your SO) want to fill your time with just photography.
 
Don't think anyone has mentioned Dubai creek yet! surrounded by small markets with lots of photo opportunities. Also if you want to get the sunset from Burj Khalifa make sure you pre book your time slot and I would aim to book around 2 hours before sunset, you arrive and just join a queue to go up, once up there you can spend as long as you like, but you don't want to cut it fine and end up missing the sunset!! there are plenty of views to keep you entertained whilst up there. I found it nearly impossible to get a long exposure shot though as there is a small ledge where you can look out without glass in the way which i rested my camera on but as the building is so tall there is a small sway which gives you some blur on the photos.

Some other tips, get their version of the oyster card, we put £10 on it and it lasted us 8 days, using the metro multiple times per day going all over Dubai.
Buy the 241 book https://www.theentertainerme.com/products2016 full of buy get one free offers from everything from the water parks, food, days out. Its about £60 but we saved that in one day on a meal and the waterpark. You can buy it once there from most book shops, or I think they now have an app you can buy

Enjoy its an amazing place!
 
In addition to the above try the Gold Soak and Spice Market and take a Water Taxi to nowhere in particular some great street photography opportunities.
 
If you want to get a great angle on the setting sun - with the skyscrapers (including the berj) all in silhouette - and you have access to a car or a taxi - then there's no better place to stand than:

25°12'54" N 55°17'38" E

It's just a few minutes drive, and quite easy to reach.
 
Went to Ravis again for lunch at the weekend. Still brilliant.

Karting at Dubai Autodrome is really good too if you're that way inclined.
 
If you want to get a great angle on the setting sun - with the skyscrapers (including the berj) all in silhouette - and you have access to a car or a taxi - then there's no better place to stand than:

25°12'54" N 55°17'38" E

It's just a few minutes drive, and quite easy to reach.

Be very careful shooting from that location. It's overlooking Zabeel Race Course where the Sheikh trains regularly, plus his palace is near by and many of the ruling families villa's.

I'd suggest heading out to Dubai Festival City, Business Bay or the Creek Harbour (open on weekends) https://goo.gl/maps/YLMbyHoLdGF2
 
Be very careful shooting from that location. It's overlooking Zabeel Race Course where the Sheikh trains regularly, plus his palace is near by and many of the ruling families

Absolutely fine, the internet is awash with images taken by tourists !

What do you imply by 'be very careful' ?
 
Absolutely fine, the internet is awash with images taken by tourists !

What do you imply by 'be very careful' ?

It's always at your own risk. Having lived here for 5 years, it's always better to be safe than sorry, plus there are better locations. There's plenty of signs within Zabeel prohibiting photography, all it takes is one over zealous police officer to put a stop to your photography and holiday.
 
It's always at your own risk. Having lived here for 5 years, it's always better to be safe than sorry, plus there are better locations. There's plenty of signs within Zabeel prohibiting photography, all it takes is one over zealous police officer to put a stop to your photography and holiday.

Agree but that's Dubai all over !
 
Went to Ravis again for lunch at the weekend. Still brilliant.

Karting at Dubai Autodrome is really good too if you're that way inclined.

We are going out on the 20th of this month for just four days as a stop over before carrying onto Oz, my nephew is a driver coach at the kart track, so we will be going there for sure.
There are some great tips on here but for the limited time we are here I'll have to be selective. We are booked for a trip up the Burj on our second night but I believe it is from 7.30pm onwards, so I'm guessing we may miss the golden 20 mins ?

Would love to try the curry, I'd have to leave my partner outside though as she dislikes it !
 
We are going out on the 20th of this month for just four days as a stop over before carrying onto Oz, my nephew is a driver coach at the kart track, so we will be going there for sure.
There are some great tips on here but for the limited time we are here I'll have to be selective. We are booked for a trip up the Burj on our second night but I believe it is from 7.30pm onwards, so I'm guessing we may miss the golden 20 mins ?

Would love to try the curry, I'd have to leave my partner outside though as she dislikes it !

Yeah, sunset is around 630 at the moment I think. You should have time to get the best of it from ground level before you go up though.

Enjoy!
 
Yeah, sunset is around 630 at the moment I think. You should have time to get the best of it from ground level before you go up though.

Enjoy!

Cool, 2 weeks today for us now, will need to start packing my camera bag soon ;).
 
Look forward to seeing the results when you're back! I've seem some majestic pics of Sheikh Zayed Mosque
 
Just in case you are still checking the forum on your phone, if you go to the creek, go earlier and walk down to the fish market. I know it sounds like a duff subject, but the characters are really interesting, happy with a camera around, in fact seem to queue up, but the fish are amazing colours all laid out perfectly. I know it sounds stupid, but it is well worth it as is all of the non tourist areas in the old town
 
We are in Perth now, the three days in Dubai flew past and were very tiring . We visited the fish market and can agree that the workers there are very amiable, my partner was chased by one waving a Sea Bass ! I enjoyed the visit north of the creek as it was great for photography, believe it or not the weather wasn't great for our stay, we had rain, overcast conditions and a lot of smog around the skyscrapers .
Highlight for us was the trip up the Burj Khalifa and visiting my nephew at the Motor city complex , worst moment was being on the Metro during the rush hour at the end of the day !
I just need to wait two weeks for our return from Oz to edit my shots , I'll post a few then .
 
Resurrecting this old thread, some good info.

I'll be in Dubai on my own in a few weeks for several days and want to take the chance for some photography. I was thinking high up shots or even getting out of the city and into the desert for night time Astro stuff.

Can anyone recommend a high building with access, maybe one you can see the burj, I guess this will likely be a hotel bar terrace etc. A little googling suggests a couple of photographers who do workshops and have the access (Daniel cheong) but I don't fancy 900USD for a session! I'd rather buy a gorilla pod and a few cocktails:)

I'll probably wander around the old city, marina etc. But also want to try something a little different.

Anybody have any insights or links to Astro photographers in Dubai.

I won't have a car but can happily get around on metro and taxi's.

Thanks

Alan
 
Alan, one of my favourite places to take your camera and tripod is the level 43 open air rooftop bar at the 4 Points Sheraton, you can get some excellent shots of the skyline including the Burj and the light trails of the road network below - they generally won't let you mess around on a Thursday night there (the main weekend night) but any other time is cool. You can take photos and have a couple of cold ones for a lot lets than $900...another bet is the rooftop bar at the Shangri La (ikandy) which arguably has better views but you can be a little pressed with your tripod here (worth a recce though and see what you think).

The weather is good and clear for astro photography at the minute but to get the best out of it you need to go as far as you can away from the immense light pollution of Dubai as far as you can go - Hatta has some decent foreground with its dams and pools that can be decent.

Enjoy.
 
I'd second Level 43. It's a really nice bar on Sheikh Zayed. There are couple of rooftop bars but some are expensive even by Dubai standards, worth looking at reviews for the bars rather than just the location! I'm in DXB at the moment and brought my Star Adventurer with me for some astro. I was planning on just driving out to the start of the cycle track with it but may now go to Oman or the Northern Emirates for a couple of days with SWMBO. I also intend doing some more architecture/early mornings. You can get some very impressive sunsets but the transition from day/night is very rapid. I've just noticed that you won't have a car, that might limit your ability to get out of the city. But travelling around in it is easy.
 
Thanks Zaytsev / Wayne, great recommendations, I don’t think I’ll be able to get out to Hatta but will check out level 43.

Hi Alan,

Drop me a message with the dates you're here. I'll see if I can help out with a few locations for you.

You can see my stuff on IG - www.instagram.com/goexplore.ae
 
Can I put in a personal request? :D
If you can come back with some in-progress construction photos of the Dubai-I that would be great! I did a lot of work on the initial design but haven't seen any progress on it for a while.
 
Can I put in a personal request? :D
If you can come back with some in-progress construction photos of the Dubai-I that would be great! I did a lot of work on the initial design but haven't seen any progress on it for a while.

BassJunkie, PM me your email and I'll flick you over some pictures. You can then tell me why they've had the last section on the hook for 6 weeks without being able to install it....
 
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