Close to where we live in Dubai Marina, is a water front area known as ‘The Walk’ – it is a strip of about one and a half kilometres, along the front of the Jumeriah Beach Residences complex (JBR). It offers a vast array of restaurants, shops, a cinema, and of course, a superb beach and in typical Dubai style, this beach is even branded, ‘The Beach’.
Whilst we have visited this busy area many times, and sampled the delights of a number of its restaurants, I wanted to take the opportunity to explore it in more detail during a quieter period, and what better time than at sunrise, as the new day dawns.
A second motive for choosing this time is that we’ve recently acquired our first DSLR camera, a Canon EOS 80D, and I’ve read and heard a lot about the so called ‘golden hour’ for photography, so I was looking to have the chance to experiment without the pi
ercing sunlight that engulfs Dubai for most of the day.
With the weekend alarm set for 5.45, I embarked on my photo-adventure as the sun was showing its first glimpses of life.
Arriving at the beach, my first realisation was that ‘I was not alone’! Perhaps not surprisingly, quite a number of people have learned that this is a great time to be on the beach, the temperature was in the low 30’s, and the sea looked very inviting – even the nice man waiting to take payment for using one of the many available sun-beds was already on duty – I bet he has a long day!
The next 2 hours were spent exploring, looking for interesting shots, and generally absorbing the atmosphere. As a newbie to photography, I’m finding that taking pictures of landscapes, buildings and objects is what I enjoy most; whilst there are some great opportunities for photographing people, I’m quite apprehensive about taking pictures of people without their knowledge or consent, as Dubai is quite a conservative place. In such situations I am reminded of an incident a few years back in Saudi Arabia, where a colleague was taking photos in a public building which inevitably included local people; he suffered the wrath of those involved for doing so.
By the time I got back home I had taken some 80 shots, some I liked, some were a bit ‘meh’; there is so much to learn, it’s a different world from the ‘point and click’ that I am used to.
But The Walk, and The Beach are fun places to visit, whether its 6am or 10pm, there is so much to do and see!
Some of the photos I liked:
Travel facts:
The nearest metro stations to The Walk are either Damac Properties, or Jumeriah Lake Towers; from either of these, take the tram to Jumeriah Beach Residence 1, or Jumeriah Beach Residence 2.
The Beach also has its own website at:
Thanks for sharing, great photos. The morning air looks cool and fresh.
Mim
Thanks Mim, after 8 blog posts you made my very first comment! I’m still very much a newbie at both blogging and photography, but really enjoying the learning process. Thank you for taking the time to read.