Welcome back everyone!  If you caught last week’s Picture of the Week (and I hope you did), you got sneak peak at the stunningly beautiful Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.  I liked that image so much I wanted it to stand alone in its own post, BUT I got several other images of the mosque that I wanted to share as well, and so this week you get to see those.  The Grand Mosque is not the first mosque I’ve ever visited, but I must say, it’s definitely the most striking.  As you can see, its architecture is classic Middle Eastern, which was largely new to me, and I found to be very interesting.  I absolutely loved the dome and tower look, and as you can see from the images above and below, the light was quite favorable!

As I was walking around the Grand Mosque, I happened to spot an area across the highway, which was obviously a public place, but not immediately apparent to someone not in the know.  I asked a tour guide who happened to be hanging around near me, and he responded, “Ahh, you’ve noticed the best kept secret of the Mosque” and explained that it was a war memorial, and I should definitely go visit.  I’m glad I did!  The view of the mosque from there was incredible, especially with the setting sun behind it.  As luck would have it, the sunset was very nice in its final stages, and when contrast with the purple / blue lights used to illuminate the mosque after dark on the outside, I couldn’t help but think how amazing the color palette was.

Below are a number of other images I took of the mosque as I wandered around.  One image, you’ll note, was taken inside, which I found to be beautiful as well, but I found the exterior to be much more photogenic personally.

More next week!

–Dan Thompson