Photographing the Dubai Downtown district

This is the third in a series of articles aimed at the photographer trying to capture the best of Dubai when only a few days are available! The first article, which sets the scene for this “Photographer’s Guide to Dubai” can be found here.

The Dubai Downtown district is the home to the most memorable and perhaps famous buildings in Dubai. I decided that I needed to spend a night there so that I could explore both by day and at night, and if I was going to stay there, I might as well look for a “room with a view!” I found that courtesy of Airbnb although I later found that the company (which has about 40 apartments in this same building) takes bookings direct – they trade under the name Unlock Holidays Homes. My view of the city from my apartment was just perfect and this shot with my fisheye lens gives the full breadth of the view from my balcony.

It sort of looks walkable to the main downtown area! But in reality, it is a 45-minute walk to the left, across the bridge and into the main area, and so another Uber was necessary to take me to that first row of hotels across the lake, which is actually the Dubai Canal. I had read that the fountain show in front of the Burj al Khalifa is well worth seeing and photographing and as my research found that the first show was 6pm, I decided to head there and photograph the city as I went. I took two cameras – the main one with a 16-35mm lens and the second with an 11mm fisheye. I thought that might have attracted the security guards all over the Dubai Mall and lake by the Khalifa tower, but no-one seemed to mind. I did capture various shots of buildings under construction on the way, but they are perhaps not so interesting to a general audience! Arriving at the Burj al Khalifa lake gave me a great view of the tower above the artificial flowers in the lake:

It is hard to picture just how tall this building is 828m (2716 feet) and has more than 160 stories. Even with a wide angle lens, I had to lean back and then correct all the sloping buildings that you get with such an approach to get this view. My fisheye lens gives a broader view of this scene:

The walk continued on past the Palace Downtown hotel and into the maze of restaurants that surround the lake as you approach the Dubai Mall:

With a 6pm show, I needed to be there in advance to get my prime position on the bridge that leads into the Mall and so around 5:15pm, I was there and ready for action! The clock ticked on, and I entertained myself taking photos as the sun slowly set between the buildings:

And nothing happened at 6pm! 6:15 came and went and eventually I left my prime position to ask a guard when the show started. Of course, it was Ramadan and the times had changed and the first show would now be 7:15pm!

One final picture and I decided I had time to rush into the mall to the Five Guys burger joint and be back in time for the show. Five Guys was a bit slower than planned (but delicious as I hadn’t eaten since breakfast) and I came out still in time. But now, my prime spot was covered by thousands of people with zero chance of getting anywhere with a view. It was dark as well, and so any photographs would have been pretty useless, so I trekked back through the mall to take a taxi back to my apartment. And so, the famous fountain show in Dubai was not on my agenda any longer! This was a common problem I found – it was difficult to find any Ramadan timings online. The obvious answer to ask a security guard didn’t seem too obvious to me at the time, unfortunately.

However, all was not lost. The fountain show continues throughout the evening (although again no real way of finding out when they would occur) and the side of the Burj al Khalifa is illuminated for the show, and my balcony had a perfect view:

I took a few to capture the different way the tower was illuminated. As you can see, this area of Dubai has signs on almost all the buildings which do detract a little from the photos, I think, but it is almost impossible to remove something like that in Photoshop!

I also decided that I could take another stroll along the cycle path and walkway that runs alongside the canal and so I walked this time to the right to capture different views of the city from the water’s edge. I finally came back close to midnight. Incidentally I never felt the slightest bit uneasy about being out at night. Dubai seems to be a very safe city in the areas I visited and there were others walking and riding along the waterfront and eating in the restaurants. So one final photo of the skyline with “normal lighting” on the Burj:

The next morning gave me more opportunities to capture the views of the city from the balcony. It’s interesting how it looks with different lighting in the morning hours:

The adjacent building to mine had a very distinctive facade, and so I though an more abstract photo was called for:

I had to check out from the apartment by noon and so the walking shoes were fitted and I decided to walk along the canal side towards the ocean. There is a waterfall bridge and a couple of newer pedestrian bridges that I wanted to find. Interestingly, Google Maps didn’t know whether the cycle path/walking trail was open and suggested a route along the roads, but I took a chance and started down by the bay, capturing a different view of the Dubai Downtown area from water level:

Believe it or not, but I took enough photos in the next two hours to create 56 more “keepers” that have been keyworded and uploaded to my photo agencies. I won’t bore you with them all here, but I’m pleased to report that the canal-side path has been completed all the way to the Gulf Coast although in some areas there is nothing but construction sites creating yet another beautiful development of apartments on the Dubai Canal!

Everywhere I looked, there was new construction of dramatically styled tower blocks. I thought these three looked a little like the “Transformers” that were popular quite a number of years ago!

As I got further away from the Downtown district, the buildings tended to thin out a bit and people who had been riding these motorized scooters obviously decided they had gone far enough (or ran out of battery power!)

The bridge you can see is Tolerance Bridge – and yes, that was next on my list! But looking back, it was interesting to contrast what I think was the “older” Dubai with the modern one. The smaller two-story homes on the far side of the canal is presumably what Dubai looked like before all the new construction started.

I’m also pretty sure that the bridge in the distance is the Waterfall bridge, but I gather that it only works as a waterfall in the evening. Another opportunity missed!

Next up is the Tolerance bridge that sweeps across the Canal to another new development on the far shore!

According to the designer’s website:

Tolerance Bridge is the first and only clear span suspension bridge in the Middle East. Named in honor of the International Day of Tolerance, the bridge offers pedestrians a 690-foot-long walking and cycling path over the Dubai Water Canal.

There are some fantastic photos of this bridge illuminated at sunrise with the downtown district behind. I guess I could have been up really early for that, but it just shows how difficult it is to capture all these “best” views of Dubai in a short visit. So, just be happy with what you did see!

But wait, there is more! Further along the canal path, we come to the Dubai Water Canal Bridge – yet another beautifully designed and constructed pedestrian bridge. This one looks like some giant has tried to squeeze the water out of it by twisting into a helix shape and it is a real surprise to see how it looks from the interior.

As you can see, we are getting towards the end of the Canal path on this side, but going up in the elevator to the bridge itself (who climbs stairs in the Dubai heat?) you can continue the walk on the far side:

And so to the final part of my journey alongside these attractive apartments:

By now, I was feeling the distance in my feet! So, I walked to the bridge in the distance, sat down by the hospital there and ordered my Uber back to the apartment to collect my luggage and order yet another Uber to make my way to the final hotel in the Marina area of Dubai. And that is the subject of the final article of this Photographer’s Guide to Dubai.