Be my bride...

Maybe not obvious from the picture what the title is all about, but these Emirati youths who generally come from well off families have fast cars, jet skis etc. Friends look on whilst the boys impress local girls who are parked up in cars nearby. Some girls are fantastically pretty if you like the 'arabic' look and watch the boys doing stunts. They generally shouldn't mix, or be seen to mix.

I borrowed the 17-55mm which was nice glass but quite big and heavy to lug around.

Almost certainly Photobucket has 'cooled' the original colour of the picture

Gosh im glad i dont live over there any more! It can be such a beautiful country in parts, but so supressive. I can understand the impact of this image perfectly. Nicley done

Nice shot BC - how did you find the 17-55? I quite like that lens.

Thanks, the 17-55mm has an excellent reputation and is a more 'professional' lens than most amateurs get to use because of it's cost. It's quite fast at f2.8 so that comes at a cost of price, size and weight. It's big, especially when you add the hood and dwarves my 18-70mm. To be honest I wasn't overly impressed when over there although now I am back processing pictures on my proper screen I can see it is has good colour, contrast and overall the pictures are sharp.

I'd recommend it for quality but it is a quite big and heavy to lug around with other lenses (you need a wider lens and a longer lens to be prepared for anything).

Digressing a bit but for most amateurs on holiday package charted flights a good camera such as a D300 or 50D and even one or two lenses plus bag would be more than they allow in hand luggage weight (often around 5kg). Although I'd like a 17-55 I could see me having to leave it at home when the chips are down and compromises have to be made which rather defeats the object. Even though I mainly travel on scheduled flights my hand luggage was still maxed out with a few important bits, camera and lightweight Thinkpad. Luckily when I was in AD I visited my old place of work they unexpectedly offered access to their stuff inc.24-120, 12-24, 17-55. Still digressing but I took my Sigma 10-20 rather than 12-24 to reduce size and weight. Great fun lens but certainly nowhere near as controlled for distortion as the Sigma 12-24.

Overall, yes, the 17-55 is very nice but I don't think I could part with the dosh when it just fits a mid-range of focal lengths and would probably be left at home in the cupboard.

It is a bold statement if you know the cirumstances behind it nice one