Now & Then - Dubai

by Simone & Robert Nowell

Price: UAE Dhs 135/- or UK £ 25/-
ISBN: 0-9533035-0-0

Now & Then - Dubai is a pictorial guide to the beautiful emirate of Dubai, past and present. It provides an insight to a city that has been transformed in just a few decades.

Dubai has emerged as the city of the new millennium. Its transformation from a humble fishing and pearling community to a busy modern city and prosperous port has been dramatic. As little as ten years ago the Dubai World Trade Centre was the point around which navigation to Abu Dhabi centred. Now it seems a little lost amoung the huge skyscrapers that are creeping down the Sheikh Zayed Highway towards it. Simple single-storey houses, made of coral from the surrounding sea, have now been replaced with glass and metal towers and luxury villas.

Many photographers from different walks of life, in Dubai for different reasons, contributed to the 'then' aspect of the book. Fortunately, most people kept a record of where and when the photographs were taken. This allowed us to piece together most of the pictorial history of Dubai. In some places we relied on photographers' memories, this only added to the interest of the book. The 'now' part was far easier, weather permitting, of course. While Simone Nowell sat hunched over a hot keyboard tapping out the text, Robert Nowell climbed buildings, sand dunes and sections of scaffolding looking for that perfect shot. It all came together and the result is Now & Then - Dubai.