Please use the ashtray provided

[dubaiphil]

Something drew me to this scene during last night's walkabout. The bicycles, the tatty old advertisements on the building, the light, the guy, the pose, the flowery trash bin in a gritty setting.

Did he use the ashtray - of course not!

Tomorrow morning = a walkabout to blow the cobwebs off my old D90, with a 50mm f1.4 attached. A lot more inconspicuous so I'll try a different method of street photography and see what comes of it (before I wilt in the heat, especially as it's Ramadan and you can't eat or drink in public - not good when it's 50 degrees!)

[pnodrog]

As always a well taken photograph. Do they have a lot of tulips in Dubai?

[John 2]

That's a nice conversion and image Phil. You seem to find some really willing subjects and make the most of them.

[Mike Buckley]

This one is by far my favorite of the most recent set of images that you posted. I'll revisit the others, but for now they lack something compelling (not sure how to define it) that I'm used to seeing in your photos. Whatever that compelling element is, it's definitely in this photo.

[dubaiphil]

Thanks L.Paul, John and Mike.

I have to agree, Mike - you can't force the issue. A lot of effort is made to get to these locations to shoot, and more often than not I come away with nothing really worthy - some keepers and occasionally a favourite or two. This is one of those.

In many shots I'm just trying to document things as I see them, but occasionally you get many elements working together as here, and then I wait for the right level of human interaction or timing.

But hey, if it's always that easy, then where's the fun?!?