about dxb chronicles

The saga of Jeff living in the City of Gold. Presently living in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, unravel his journey throughout the city with memoirs and everyday life stories.


Friday, November 21, 2008

atlantis' grand opening fireworks


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claimed to be the biggest fireworks in the history, the atlantis hotel's grand opening was extravagant. using 100,000 state-of-the art fireworks made by grucci, it was seven times bigger than the beijing olympics' opening ceremony. the hotel's closed-door party bash cost about 20million pounds. a-listed celebrities attended the party with the likes of michael jordan, janet jackson, charlize theron, robert de niro, wesley snipes, lindsay lohan, sir richard branson and many more. kylie minogue performed her first concert in the middle east.

since we're not part of the list like others do, we decided to scout the area early. two hours before the big salvo, we found a spot on the right side of the island, just few meters away from the beach. we used telephoto lenses to be safe. at first, we thought the main focus of the fireworks was just the hotel building. we got surprised when the whole place was illuminated.

my jaw dropped.

the fireworks display lasted for five minutes. it was indeed one of the greatest fireworks display i've seen and my hand on the shutter remote keep on clicking. few minutes later, i tried different angles and orientation without worrying my focal length (it was prefocused to infinite). i wasn't able to use my uwa lens due to the tripod plate was mounted on longnose's collar and didn't risk to switch it.

shots by nikita using longnose (70-200mm) with different set of exposures (3-30secs) at iso 100.

note: unauthorized use and download of my photos for non-commercial and commercial purposes are prohibited.

you can also see the video on atlantis website.

discoursed by jeff @ 10:26 PM  |  3 comment(s)  |  permalink

Monday, November 17, 2008

dubai mall


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we had an impromptu visit to the newly opened mall near burj dubai on a friday morning.

sprawling over 12 million sq ft, the dubai mall is currently the largest mall built on the planet. it has the largest acrylic panel for the indoor aquarium and it broke the retail history by having the largest opening day with 600 stores (there are over 1200 stores). aside from the indoor aquarium, the mall includes an olympic-sized ice rink, a 250-room luxurious hotel, 22 cinema screens plus 120 restaurants and cafes.

shots by nikita using longnose (70-200mm) and uwa (10-20mm) on iso 200 - 3200.

note: unauthorized use and download of my photos for non-commercial and commercial purposes are prohibited.

discoursed by jeff @ 4:31 PM  |  7 comment(s)  |  permalink

Sunday, November 02, 2008

featured @ practical photography


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i entered a travel photography competition last may and some of my photos were shortlisted to the finals. the grand prize was trip for two to antartica and category winners were given ocean cruise in the carribean. i did not win any of these.

however, i feel grateful that one of my photos, the "deira fish market" entry was published in their magazine. it's such an honor to be part of it. please grab a copy. inside, there are useful stuff such as hdr, manual focus, etc.

once again, thanks for the inspiration. you know who you are.

note: unauthorized use and download of my photos for non-commercial and commercial purposes are prohibited.

discoursed by jeff @ 8:18 AM  |  4 comment(s)  |  permalink