Sheikh Zayed Mosque

A very nice attention grabber. The composition has imediate visual impact. The predominance of three colours in a repetitive pattern in such depth makes this image a visual standout.

Regards,

ricardo

Professionally exposed scene ... and perfect light treatment with strong contrast ...!!!

A very good composition!Perfect light and contrast.Compliments and regards.

A most original and elegant visual image, superb composition. There is some sense of neatness and coolness. Great photo!

DG

This composition obviously concentrates/converges all its major components into the center, which gives it a nice sense of movement and force. I especially like the balanced but nicely varied arrangement of the flowing black figures.

And I think the little cluster of distant people on the left adds just a touch of relaxation, and breadth of interest to what otherwise might have been a structure in danger of being de-humanized.

However, and I think this is a major issue with the picture, what does all of the concentrated-on-the-center design bring our eye to? A striped shopping bag.

Yes, that bag is a visually neat accent that keystones the picture, but when dealing with this subject matter, it is either unintentionally inappropriate, or an intentional comment on the location or the figures. If the latter, I suppose it could be an effort to hint at character which is concealed by the black clothing, but within this place, and being the center of everything, that seems almost snarky.

Carrying the bag would be snarky. Seeing it is not. I'd say that bit of cultural tension is central to the whole exercise.

Human beings as design and composition.

The sense of movement of the procession of women is suggested to me by three things, the first being the perspective, the second the appearance that the gold motifs of the columns are positioned above the heads and associated with each person and they conduct the eye into the distance, and thirdly, the highly polished marble floor that seems to reject the notion that the ladies are static and fixed to it. I also like the delicate drawings on the right which seem to contrast with the formal architecture and provide a sense of now, compared to an ostensibly centuries old edifice (deceiving, of course, as the building was started in 1996!). The lens focal length was well chosen.

I'm a great fan of Dieter's photography since years, and because he seems to have passed by Abu Dhabi, the eyes of the elves have fallen on one of his least sophisticated shots with the following introductory catchwords: contrast, composition, "curiousity" (sic!)

Yes, yes we all see the contrast and yes, there is obviously a composition present, which by the way hurts our eyes, and the photo is indeed curious - but especially curious, as a Dieter Biskamp photo.

As we can see from Dieter's portfolio he stayed in fact long enough in Sheikh Zayed Mosque to see it without the procession of muslim women in Abaya Kaftan clothing (as far as I can see) brining with them a striped shopping bag.
He shot another more simple composition of the same view with only one distant woman in view, this one, where the flower decorated pillars and the beautiful architecture are underlined, which I would rather admire - and then go back to Dieters numerous fine art shots, which can be found in his voluminous portfolio by anyone, making the effort.

Beautifully composed image that explores two stories. I wish that the person into the distance was not there, spoiling the view and the line somewhat, but otherwise great.

The strong geometry and contrast certainly grabs attention, and if it "hurts the eyes" a bit, so be it. Comfort is not the essence of the photo.
What intrigues this viewer is the juxtaposition of warmth and detail in the inanimate objects vs the foreboding dark and mystery of the humans. At this point, it conjures a disparate reality of an evil core in a surround of beauty and warmth (and maybe purity given all the white). But then the dark is hidden, so may not really be so bad as it looks. The burden remains on the suspected parts to prove good by reveleation. So far it has not.
This is the success of the photo for me. It made me look, then held my attention and intrigued me long enough to form a reaction, including what the photo is about.

Got to agree about the shopping bag. A real shame. Steve McCurry would have cloned it out. The black figures are interesting, the two nearest to the viewer in particular.

To me, the shopping bag simply makes us think more about the image. I think that may have been Matt's point.

A comment on consumer culture in the Arab world - yes I can see that, although the crisp, pristine, new mosque speaks to that too.