Dubai

I recently acquired a new old lens, a Pentax SFX-era F1.4 50mm autofocus from the 1980s. While it is a lens ideally suited for night photography, I recently had the chance to give it a whirl while out and about. Here are a few of the good photos I got.

The Index is one of my favourite buildings to look at in Dubai, and not only because a friend of mine lives there. This Foster & Partners building is perfect for the Dubai landscape, with its pleasingly retro angles and box grater shape, its use of textured materials. And yet it's completely different to the chrome and glass towers that make up most of the city's skyscrapers. Chief among them is the Burj Khalifa, tallest building in the world, of-late Tom Cruise's personal dangling venue of choice. I'm fairly indifferent to its design, though I guess it could have been a lot worse.

Despite the modern image of the Emirates being a glass & chrome metropolis, drive a little out of the city and you'll end up on a road that looks very much like this, no matter where you go...

...and once you get bored and decide to return to the cities, chances are you'll end up in a traffic jam that looks very much like this, no matter where you go!

It's a small concession that once every couple of years, when you do get stuck in a traffic jam you at least get to see some aerobatics. (Also, I really, really need to clean all the dust spots from my camera sensor.)

The lens, by the way, performs admirably, even shooting straight into the setting sun. You can't see it at this size and treatment, but I can read the number plates on most of the traffic in this shot.

These last two shots further demonstrate how marvelous this lens has turned out to be. Both of them are shot through a very dirty window, with harsh corridor lights behind and above me casting all manner of reflections on the glass. The second one, in fact, was taken at a sharp glancing angle to the glass. It's a wonder I managed to get anything at all!

Needless to say, I'm only scratching the surface of what this lens can do, and future experiments will follow.

V

I took pictures of rocks, and also some buildy things. Then I messed around with them in the GIMP. It was fun.

At my local chai refuelling station, this cat -- the calmest, cleanest little thing you've ever seen sitting on the edge of a garbage can.

Since I've been doing little else, I thought I might as well put up some photos.

As is typical, I went to IKEA for one thing and ended up with something else. In this case, the one thing was a shower curtain (which I did end up buying, though I seem to have forgotten about it) and the impulse buy was a potted chrysanthemum plant.

It was beautiful. It was cheap. I mean, really: it cost less than a coffee at Starbucks. I've shied away from keeping plants at home since I live in an apartment with not a whole lot of sunlight. In Oman we used to live in a villa which had a fairly large garden, and perhaps in envy of those times I've never considered putting some in my new concrete jungle surrounding.

Recently, however, I picked up a little basil plant, and three months later its new leaves have been tiny, but at least it hasn't died on me.

Next step, a trough-shaped planter for my sill, more herbs, and maybe even a few more flowering plants!

V