Abu Dhabi The fisherman who was rearranging the fishing net nodded in disagreement when Rodney Shane Green focused his camera. He thought of abandoning that picture, but his decision to move away and shoot it from afar through his zoom lens later won him first prize of Dh30,000 in the prestigious photography competition entitled Abu Dhabi Through Your Eyes (ADTYE) 2009.
The competition, held under the patronage of General Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, was organised by the Office of the Brand of Abu Dhabi (OBAD) for a second year.
Shaikh Khalid Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Vice Chairman of the Board of Etihad Airways, presented the awards to the photographers of the top ten images at a cere-mony at the Emirates Palace Hotel on Monday evening. The top 10 images were on display.
Picture perfect
The competition invited citizens and expatriates to submit unpublished images that capture the spirit of Abu Dhabi. The top 10 winners will have their work selected as part of Abu Dhabi's evolving visual identity and they will have the honour of their images becoming part of the overall brand photographic library. The first prize winner told Gulf News that he was lucky to get the perfect light and reddish rays of the sun early in the morning on the beach for his picture named On Golden Sands.
"Sunrises and sunsets are fantastic in the UAE... Moreover the sea is synonymous with the Middle East," said Green, who is a military adviser with the UAE government and is from the UK.
The competition has grown in its second year, almost doubling the number of entries from its first year in 2008, said Reem Al Shemari, general manager of OBAD.
"We received more than 4,000 entries."
Photos: Right Place, Right Time
"About 200 white camels were there [at Al Dhafra camel festival in Al Gharbia] and a few black camels, and out of the blue one white camel embraced the black one," said Viktoryia Vinnikava from Belarus who captured the rare moment and called it We are Together. "I was at the right place at the right time," said Belarus who works as a graphic designer in Abu Dhabi and won sixth prize in the competition.
She felt the picture showed the diversity of Abu Dhabi, so submitted it for the competition. The camels were already disturbed by the presence of the crowd at the festival, she said. "So I took the pictures from about 100 metres away, using the zoom lens."
Mohammad Al Musharfy, who photographed two men cleaning the dome of the Shaikh Zayed Grand Mosque, also said he was at the right time there. "It was an early morning on a weekend during Ramadan, while driving I found these men on the top."
The winners:
1st Place: AED 30,000
Rodney Shane Greene
United Kingdom
2nd Place: AED 25,000
Michael Green
United Kingdom
3rd Place: AED 20,000
Omar Abdulrahman Al Zaabi
United Arab Emirates
4th Place: AED 15,000
Mohamed Al Musharfy
United Arab Emirates
5th Place: AED 12,000
Hatim Saleh
India
6th Place: AED 10,000
Viktoryia Vinnikava
Belarus
7th Place: AED 10,000
Moza Saeed Al Romaithi
United Arab Emirates
8th Place: AED 10,000
Maitha bint Khalid
United Arab Emirates
9th Place: AED 10,000
Tariq Dajani
United Kigdom
10th Place: AED 10,000
Sammy Dallal
United States of America
