Street Sweeping: Ryadh

I mentioned before that traffic in Ryadh was incredibly slow; it was stop and go all day, everyday, and the city is more than 100 square kilometers, so it's probably the world's largest parking lot (even Dubai couldn't compete with that!).

Thus, I was afforded plenty of time to make pictures from the front seat of a small Nissan four door pickup. This first fellow is interesting because he is perfectly commonplace. At all times of the day you see people dressed just like him going about their business. It's interesting because it's so different from America.

Nikon D7000, 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 VR lens @ 82mm, f/8.0, 1/1600s, ISO 640.

Likewise, these two chic looking sheiks are also very commonplace. They look like they just left school--maybe they're the popular kids in the twelfth grade...

Nikon D7000, 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 VR lens @ 62mm, f/8.0, 1/2000s, ISO 640.

These five fellows are certainly commonplace, too, as is their vehicle. With no subway, and apparently no busses, this is what counts as mass transit in Ryadh.

Nikon D7000, 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 VR lens @ 210mm, f/9.0, 1/250s, ISO 500.

Here's one of my very favorite pictures. This dude was riding in the back of a covered truck with about eight other workers on their way someplace. They saw me in the car in the lane next to them, and I waved, and he waved, and I indicated my camera with a questioning look, and he nodded with this embarrassed little smile, and I shot away. The key to a picture like this is framing: you've got to not include the schnoz of the guy driving your vehicle as you shoot across the front seats and out the driver's window!

Nikon D7000, 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 VR lens @ 98mm, f/9.0, 1/200s, ISO 500.