Dubai rang in 2015 with a splendiferous fireworks display; the spectacular photos from New Year’s Eve made noise among social media users across the web. The best images were captured by Daniel Cheong, a photography “hobbyist” (a telecom worker by day) based in Dubai. Al Bawaba caught up with Cheong to find out more about the man behind the lense.
How does someone who only recently got serious about cameras produce such consistently knock-out portraits of the UAE’s most populous/photographed/photogenic city?
The man behind the lense
Cheong’s journey with cameras began after buying his first digital single-lens reflex camera in 2006. That’s when he also discovered the world of “high dynamic range photography”, a technique of manually blending multiple exposures of the same subject to achieve a range of luminance levels that surpass those found in real-world scenes.
Cheong told us, “‘Straight Out Of the Camera' is a concept which I am not familiar with. I don't pretend to show reality, but more an idealized vision of it.”
Not long afterwards, his day job brought him to Dubai. His main subjects are cityscapes, seascapes and instances of urban decay. This French national, born in Mauritius, is all about color and light. He told us he is most attracted to the “blue hour”. Cheong described it as, “This very short moment when the sky turns to a beautiful color blue. This happens about 20 minutes after sunset, or 30 minutes before sunrise. I prefer the blue hour after sunset because at that time the city lights turn on, and make a great contrast with the blue sky.”
Kodak-worthy!
If you’re as mesmerized by Cheong’s prints as we are, check out his website or follow him on his Facebook page to keep up with his new projects and exhibitions.
And there’s more for keen and aspiring photographers as well, “For those who would like to learn Digital Blending, I give workshops in Dubai, and sometimes in other Gulf Countries. I also offer private lessons,” Cheong told us.
Now, click through these gorgeous portraits of this artist’s adopted city. They are surreal, and painterly, and magically bring nature to the forefront in the Middle East’s most unnatural city, Dubai: A dreamy display of dramatic cloud-bursting Dubai skyscrapers!
