Circle of Light

The main prayer hall.
The Al Fateh Grand Mosque at Juffair, Bahrain.

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Nikon D7000 | Sigma 10-20 mm

Red Corvette | Fuji X-E1

A lady driving a red corvette in Bahrain. Quite a revelation after a few months in the KSA.

Fuji X-E1 | Fujinon 18-55 mm f 2.8-4 OIS

Abstract

The World Trade Center in Bahrain.

Fuji X-E1 | Fujinon 18-55 mm f 2.8-4 OIS

Bahrain | Fuji X-E1

Driving towards Manama to catch our flight to Dubai.

Fuji X-E1 | Fujinon 18-55 mm f2.8-4 OIS

Architecture

Another experimental architectural shot of the Grand Mosque in Juffair, Bahrain.

Converted to B&W on Perfect Effects 8.

Nikon D7000 | Sigma 10-20 mm

Architectural details | Grand Mosque, Bahrain

Architectural details at the Al Fateh Grand Mosque at Bahrain.

Nikon D7000 | Sigma 10-20 mm

Shawarma Alley, Juffair, Bahrain

Shawarma Alley, lined with shawarma stalls, is my favorite street in Bahrain. I always make it a point to stop by and have a couple of superb shawarmas on the way to the airport .

Nikon D7000 | Sigma 10-20 mm | HDR on LR

The dome at the Al Fateh Grand Mosque, Bahrain

The dome of the Al Fateh Grand Mosque in Juffair, Bahrain from the balcony.

Nikon D7000 | Sigma 10-20 mm

The main entrance

The main entrance of the Grand Mosque, Bahrain. The vaulted arches of the entrance create an interesting design.

Nikon D7000 | Sigma 10-20 mm

The Chandelier

A view from the balcony of the Grand Mosque at Bahrain.

Nikon D7000 | Sigma 10-20 mm

The Grand Mosque, Bahrain

The striking architecture of the inner sanctum of the Al Fateh Grand Mosque at Juffair, Bahrain.

Nikon D7000 | Sigma 10-20 mm

The visitor

A visitor at the Al Fateh Grand Mosque, Bahrain.

Nikon D7000 | Sigma 10-20 mm

Grand Mosque, Bahrain

At the Al Fateh Grand Mosque, Bahrain, just before the evening prayers.

Nikon D7000 | Sigma 10-20 mm | Post-processing on Nik Silver Efex Pro 2

Experiments with HDR - Al Fateh Grand Mosque, Bahrain

Continuing with my experiments with HDR images, this is a HDR image of the inner courtyard of the Al Fateh Grand Mosque in Bahrain.

The picture was taken in the summer of 2009 with a Nikon D200 and an 18-55 kit zoom.

Converted to a HDR image in Luminance HDR from a single image .TIFF file.

Bahrain . . . circa 2008

Taken sometime in the end of 2008.

Bahrain shimmers in the late afternoon light. Taken from the aircraft as it lines up to land at the Bahrain International Airport at Muharraq, Bahrain. The Bahrain Airport was much more convenient for my frequent journeys home during my stay at Al-Jubail, KSA to best avoid the huge queues at the King Fahd International Airport at Dammam.

Nikon D200 | 18-55 mm @ 55mm

Al-Fateh Grand Mosque, Bahrain in color

These are the remaining pictures from my earlier post.

We got to the grand mosque late afternoon when the sun was already relatively low. The light in the mosque was really amazing, deep yellow creating an amazing play of shadow and light.

The main courtyard of the mosque

Another angle

The dome peeping behind the imposing courtyard facade

The minaret (minara) framed by the arch

A window framed by the arch

The corridor to the Minaret. The reflections are amazing.

Nikon D200 ; Nikon 18-70 Zoom

Al-Fateh Grand Mosque, Bahrain in B&W

The Al-Fateh Mosque (also known as Al-Fateh Islamic Center & Al Fateh Grand Mosque) is one of the largest mosques in the world, capable of accommodating over 7,000 worshippers at a time.

I visited Al-Fateh Grand Mosque @ Bahrain on my way to the airport to catch the flight to Bombay and took time to take some shots in B&W.

I will post the rest of the pictures in a subsequent post.

The Grand Mosque

An entrance and a corridoor

Corridor leading up to the Minara

Another shot

Nikon D200; Nikon 18-70 f3.5-3.5

King Fahd Causeway and Bahrain

A series of pictures taken on my way home via Bahrain.

The connection to Bahrain is via the 28 km King Fahd Causeway connecting Al-Khobar in Saudi Arabia to the Kingdom of Bahrain.

Wednesday afternoon... empty before the weekend rush

 

Towards the border crossing

 

Nassan Island, Bahrain

Bahrain

Bahrain again

hard selling Bahrain

Bahrain Chamber of Commerce

BWTC

Bahrain Landmarks

On the way home, we decided to drive to Bahrain and take our flight from the BIA (Bahrain International Airport). Took some pictures with the Panasonic Fx-5 that I was carrying during the times we were stuck in a jam on the way to the airport.

Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry

Bahrain's iconic World Trade Center

It is the first skyscraper in the world to integrate wind turbines into its design.

The two towers are linked via three skybridges, each holding a 225KW wind turbine, totalling to 675kW of wind power production. Each of these turbines measure 29 m (95 ft) in diameter, and is aligned north, which is the direction from which air from the Persian Gulf blows in.

The sail-shaped buildings on either side are designed to funnel wind through the gap to provide accelerated wind passing through the turbines. This was confirmed by wind tunnel tests, which showed that the buildings create an S-shaped flow, ensuring that any wind coming within a 45° angle to either side of the central axis will create a wind stream that remains perpendicular to the turbines. This significantly increases their potential to generate electricity.

The wind turbines are expected to provide 11% to 15% of the towers' total power consumption, or approximately 1.1 to 1.3 GWh a year. This is equivalent to providing the lighting for about 300 homes annually. The three turbines were turned on for the first time on the 8th of April, 2008. They are expected to operate 50% of the time on an average day.

BWTC and the moon

Bahrain F1

The Bahrain F1 Championship flyer in the seat pocket of the A340 flight from Bahrain to New Delhi had an interesting point - the Bahrain F1 contributed 3% of Bahrain’s GDP last year. So, this year Bahrain has gone the whole hog to promote the Bahrain F1 Grand Prix.

Click on the pictures to see the larger image.

The promotion at the Bahrain Airport was brilliant, with Felipe Massa’s Ferrari F1 car on display inside the Airport terminal, next to the Bahrain Duty Free.

Felipe Massa's Ferrari F1 Car. on display at Bahrain Airport.
This was my first view of a F1 car from inches away.. a real touch but not try!!!

A low slung 600 hp monster

Ferrari !!!

This is how it looks from close to the driver seat.

Oooops . . . way too many buttons . . .

Will the white knob in the center of the steering wheel with the Ferrari logo start the car???

A really small cockpit...

Can you read it??? It says "Massa"

You can win this car for BD50.
The Merc was on display when I transited through Bahrain Airport en route to Kolkata

Looks familiar... this is just next to the Bahrain Duty Free shops selling chocolates and drinks...

It is nearly a year after our Egypt trip and I was feeling that I was missing my old colleagues.

F1 t-shirts on sale

Bahrain Duty Free

Nikon D200 18-55 Nikon Lens