Thursday 28 February 2013

Luxury Car Show, Dubai Festival City

I went to the Luxury Car Show (over 300 vehicles) at Dubai Festival City today. 

Unfortunately, as the sun was setting, I realised that I was going to need my tripod and external flashgun, but had left these in my car. By the time I had walked for 15 minutes to get there and back, I would have missed these shots, so improvised with the integral pop-up flashgun .....



Four of the promoters on one of the used car dealer stands.



I could not get these ladies to understand that I wanted them to stand in that place but facing each other, instead of both facing the same way, so gave up and took this photo instead !!!



 Yes, that's better, but slightly further apart so that I can see the ferris wheel between you .... oh,never mind !!!



luxury-car-show-dubai-bentley-9089 by David Butcher Photography







luxury-car-show-dubai-corvette-9068 by David Butcher Photography




luxury-car-show-dubai-mclaren-9075 by David Butcher Photography




(more photos to follow soon ....)

Wednesday 20 February 2013

Yet another car accident !!!

Just 7 months and 3 days have passed since the last person smashed into my car(s) .... and this run of good luck was broken this evening, when a man in a Toyota Camry was driving too fast and too close to the car in front of him. When that car suddenly braked, he swerved left into the next lane to avoid hitting the rear of the car in front of him.

 Unfortunately, I was alongside him at that moment, so the front left wing of his car ....


.... smashed into the passenger side front and rear doors of my Subaru Legacy.


Luckily no-one was injured, and his insurance will pay for the repairs to my car, but once again I have the hassle of getting a quote for the repairs, and will lose the car for about a week whilst it is being repaired.


Sorry to anyone who was held up in the traffic jam behind us, but that is part of the joys of driving in the UAE. If motorists could learn to drive properly and with due care, there would be a lot fewer "accidents".

Monday 18 February 2013

David Coulthard at Yas Marina, Abu Dhabi

There are days in most jobs where it doesn't seem like work for a few moments. Since I moved from part-time to full-time Photography, these moments are becoming increasingly more common to me and now dominate most of my days. However, some days stand out even further than others ....


.... such as today, at the IBM Software Day 2013 held in the Media Centre at Yas Marina Motor Racing Circuit, near Abu Dhabi ....


.... when I got the priviledge of photographing, then meeting and chatting with both Jason Silva (who gave a very fast-paced motivational speech on the history of technology, and the imminent developments that will revolutionise all of our lives) ....


.... and one of my heros, David Coulthard (appropriately, the first ever Formula 1 driver to drive around the new race circuit right outside this conference room at Yas Marina), who also gave an excellent and very humorous motivational speech. Both Jason and David stayed on for dinner and afterwards to answer questions, sign autographs and be truly great guys :-)



Not very interesting after Jason and David, but there was a racing car parked up outside the Media Centre with the IBM Software Day 2013 branding stickers all over it ....



.... and the Conference Room inside the Media Centre is one of the largest in the world, and was filled to capacity by the participants of the IBM Software 2013 Day.

(more photos to follow soon ....)

Saturday 16 February 2013

Dubai Jazz Garden Concert


 The Dubai Jazz Garden Concert was sponsored by Toyota .... thank you very much, gents .... 
and I love the appropriate graphics on this GT86 :-)

(Fuji Finepix HS10 : 4.2 mm : ISO 800 : f2.8 :  1/30": 16.02.2013, 19:58:34)


 
 Unfortunately, digital SLR cameras were not allowed into this event (the organisers obviously didn't have any confidence in the official photographer that they appointed, and wanted to try to prevent other people taking better photographs) .... so I took all of these with my point-and-shoot Fuji HS10 camera.

 (Fuji Finepix HS10 : 8.3 mm : ISO 800 : f3.6 :  1/27": 16.02.2013, 20:03:00)




 (Fuji Finepix HS10 : 29.1 mm : ISO 1600 : f5 :  1/50": 16.02.2013, 20:23:20)




 
 (Fuji Finepix HS10 : 41.4 mm : ISO 1600 : f5 :  1/50": 16.02.2013, 20:30:07)





 (Fuji Finepix HS10 : 20.4 mm : ISO 1600 : f4.5 :  1/100": 16.02.2013, 20:48:13)





(Fuji Finepix HS10 : 35.4 mm : ISO 1600 : f5 :  1/80": 16.02.2013, 21:48:42)

  (more photos to follow ....)





Friday 8 February 2013

Sharjah Light Festival 2013

I went to the opening ceremony on the first day of this year's Sharjah Light Festival this evening ....

(pictures to follow soon)