28 May, 2007

Dubai photos from 1975-1980

An anonymous commenter linked to this site (www.anitavanderkrol.com); It is worth checking it out for some brilliant photographs of old Dubai.

As explained on the site itself...
"Between 1975 and 1980 Anita van der Krol-van Hasselt (1946) from the Netherlands took hundreds of black and white photographs of everyday life in the Dubai area.
Living as an expat in Jumeirah, she became one of the first inhabitants of Jebel Ali village. The wife of a Dutch dredging engineer who worked on the Creek, Port Rashid and Mina(harbour)Jebel Ali, Anita was in a unique position to shoot intimate pictures of Arab men, women and children. She managed to win their confidence and respect and their permission to be photographed.

Since its date of origin Anita's B&W photographs have rapidly become part of Dubai's national history, because of the country's sweepingly fast development over the last decades. These selected photographs offer a rare insight into the inherent culture of Dubai just before the town started changing into the shiny metropolis we see emerging today.

The Bedouin photographs from the desert must have been among the last taken, before this entire population group gave up their nomadic existence and settled down near the town."

16 comments:

nzm said...

Awesome!

rosh said...

soulful & beautiful, thanks sam :)

Stained said...

thanx....

SIN said...

what happened to us..?

Anonymous said...

those were the days!

Seabee said...

Brilliant. Thanks Sam. That's how it was when I first came here in 1977, I remember it very well.

DXBluey said...

Fantastic shots. An important record of the change in 30 short years.

Wish it was possible to have seen these times with my own eyes!

Anonymous said...

i wish it was like taht 2day!!

Anonymous said...

These are some really nice images. As for those who wish it was like this today, please. I would have definitely never considered coming to Dubai if this is how it was.

secret, what happened to you? You won the lottery! That's what happened. An entire country won the lottery. It's not like there were tens of thousands of hard working locals who decided to turn their lives around. They just won the jackpot.

It doesn't matter how the money came about to me. The end result is not too bad. It made me want to come to Dubai. I certainly don't care for the nomadic lifestyle.

hut said...

Hey - looks just like Sonapur today !

Harsha said...

looks like the Dubai my parents grew up in.

Anonymous said...

dubai then is way better than the shithole it is today! and that is my opinion and i will appreciate u leaving the post asir, thank u

rosh said...

fellow atheist: Anita van Derkrol took a few pictures Of Dubai - not of the entire Dubai or the UAE. Some of the pictures may not be flattering especially given all the glam sham in Dubai today. But believe me you - life in this tiny nation back then was the best ever.

Everybody knew everyone else back then – strangers helped one another. Everyone was in for the ride together.

Those "were" the days - only if you'd been with us to experience the true UAE. It was a different vibe altogether?

Anonymous said...

I grew up on the DUSTY roads of Satwa(born in 1975), playing soccer bare feet.
It was a great place to grow up

Anonymous said...

ahhh, those were the days! Used to live in Dubai from 1979 and went back for a holiday recently, very disappointing. Now I sound old!

Mealone said...

There is another website with photos about old Dubai;
www.dubaiasitusedtobe.com

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