The reflections of Amsterdam

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The fascination towards history, museum and architecture bought me to Amsterdam this time. Few days of work related stay in Frankfurt I boarded the flight to Schiphol (AMS). First of all I had missed my flight from Frankfurt to Amsterdam. Thanks to the friendly German who advised me to take the wrong train to the Frankfurt airport. Any way, when I arrived Amsterdam eventually I was very tired and the friend who was waiting in the train station had to leave for another appointment leaving the apartment keys with luggage keeper in the station.

For some reason the city was not at all lucky to me this time. It was raining most of the time and the crucial sunlight was missing for me go out and shoot. I also had cancelled my trip to the village I was planning to make because of the weather.

Any way, I managed few shots with half heart and here is the first series of them. I found the canals more beautiful in Amsterdam than in Venice. It is just me. Of course the architecture of Amsterdam always fascinated me. I even bought few miniatures from the local crafts man. They were complaining about the influx of Chinese cheep replicas spoiling their business.

The first series of my album is all about the canals and buildings surrounding it. I shall present the modern Amsterdam, faces I encountered there and the night pictures on the forthcoming series.

Golden Hour Silhouette

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Like a jewel they stand tall and elegant surrounded by the golden colours of the morning sun. An architectural symphony in Dubai.

Street Shops in Kollam

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Those are a series of street shops in Kollam taken at night. As you can see these shops open till late at night and buzzes with activity. These are my fist attempt to cover them but I ma sure I will be doing a more serious attempt to cover them later.

Burj Khalifa a Different Prospective

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Fine art photography is where the camera literally becomes the paintbrush for the photographer. He slows the shutter speed; pans, turns and the results can always be fascinating and full of surprises. The annoying light trails can be the beautiful patterns in his frame; those camera shake one is scared of can be made into an important element in your image.

There were many trials I made and the results were far from my satisfaction. When I see a subject with a ‘fine art photographers eye’ I know what I wanted. I tried to get the result but the outcomes were far from my own satisfaction until I got the above results.

Burj Khalifa, the icon of Dubai has been my subject of photography for many years. Every day when I drive past the tower I do take a moment to look at it with owes and respect. Each day I tried to read the message it gives out, some way trying to have communication with him.

It is an engineering marvel, raising high above the sky, touching the clouds, triumphant of mankind. This is what wanted to say in my picture. I waited for the right time to come. This is the challenge of being a photographer, he has to wait and wait for the right elements to fall into place. When the clouds gave a rare appearance to the night sky one day, I was sure this is one such day I should make my attempt. To capture Burj Khalifa again to give that different interpretation I always wanted to give with my camera.
Here I present, now it is your job to interpret.

InterContinental – Dubai Festival City

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InterContinental Hotel in Dubai Festival City .. a morning .

The fisherman

These amateur fisherman trying is luck.

Dubai Festival City

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Dubai festival city with InterContinental Residence Suites as its newest addition to its architectural landscape.

Al Hamra Tower

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Al Hamra tower in Kuwait is the world’s tallest sculptured tower. Completed in 2011 this tower was designed by Skidmore, Owings and Merill the practice from USA and Turner Constructions did the Project Management.

The tower will have 195,000 m2 (2,100,000 sq ft) of commercial and office space. Retail mall which totals 23,000 m2 (250,000 sq ft), which will include an all integrated theater complex and an 11-story car park.

Kuwait has seen few modern skyscrapers coming up recently. Among the new buildings, which have come up, Al Hamra is my favorite one. It is a super structure rises high up in the skyline making a bold statement.
When you drives around Kuwait and looks at all these glass structures coming up one does wonder what about the conservatism. What happens when all the heat carries by the sunlight comes inside, how much energy it will require to keep all these tall glass towers cool for human occupancy ?

Al Hamra is quite different from it. This concrete structure with windows positioned to bring just the sunlight in and keep the heat away just the way the Islamic architects used to do it olden days.

I can assure you this is the first of the series on this super structure I will be doing. So guys keep watching this space.

Checkout the discovery video on the tower here:

An icon in a concrete jungle

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Among the iconic buildings in the world, Burj Al Arab still tops my list. It is not the luxury, which attracts me towards the building even thought the building, has become synonymous with luxury and wealth, but the sheer architectural message it gives out.

Photographing this iconic building, one can never go wrong. As one of my dear friend Sumesh Senan says, Burj you can take picture, any time, any angle and you get it right !!

This is what the architect Tom Wright has to say about the building:

“If you can draw a building with a few sweeps f the pen and everyone recognizes not only the structure but also associate it with a place on earth, you have gone a long way towards creating something iconic”
Yes, this is what he had done.. create an icon

Good Morning Dubai

This is the time of the month Dubai skyline brings out it magnificent colours. Good morning beautiful dubai