Hobby-Turned-Passion Yields Stunning Photograph

More than 10 years ago, architect/interior designer Froilan Robas was working in Dubai when he discovered the hobby of photography.

In a 2019 interview with Asian Geographic,[1] Robas said he was homesick for his native Philippines, and photography helped get his mind off home and expand his social circle. What started as a hobby with a small, point-and-shoot camera morphed into a passion, with Robas studying photography at the Overseas Pinoy Professional Photographers Society in Dubai and winning his first photography job in 2012, shortly after he purchased his first digital, multi-lens camera.

With encouragement from photographer friends in Dubai, Robas began entering local and international competitions, and started winning some in 2015. Since moving home to the Philippines, Robas said he continued his profession as an architect and passion as a photographer, joining a photography club that, he says, “inspires [him] with the exchange of ideas and knowledge.” He entered this photo in ELEVATOR WORLD’s 2020 Photo Contest (EW, November 2020), in which competition — particularly in this category (City Skylines & Tall Buildings) — was fierce. The fact that Robas’ vividly colored photograph, showing the world’s tallest building, Burj Khalifa, framed beautifully in a stone arch, failed to place in the contest attests to this.

Completed in 2009 and opening in 2010, the 828-m-tall, 160-story architectural marvel is certainly lovely to behold. It houses offices, a hotel and residences. What we elevator folks think about when we look at it, however, is all the vertical-transportation innovations and effort that made it possible. Major OEMs, including KONE and Otis, played a part, with Otis, for example, providing equipment including an elevator with the longest travel distance in the world at the time (504 m), the world’s highest elevator landing at 638 m and the world’s fastest double-deck, 10-m/s elevators (EW, February 2016). Contractors and suppliers are too numerous to list but include, to name only a few, consultancy Lerch Bates Inc., PEGA (service lifts), Schmersal (switchgear), Draka (ropes) and relatively small independents like H&B Elevators of Minneapolis that provided components for some of the elevator cabs.

EW thanks Robas for sharing his beautiful photograph, and encourages him and any other aspiring photographers to enter the 2021 Photo Contest.

Reference
[1] “Photographer Spotlight: Froilan Robas,” Asian Geographic, July 17, 2020.