People of Ras al Khaimah - Jeff Topping Photography

Ali Al Hamboosi learned how to sword dance by watching others at the weddings his father would take him to when he was young performing his first dance at 15.
Mohammed Sajjad Dar opened the Sher-e-Punjab Restaurant in the Nakheel area in 1975. Now with 40 employees and three branches the former champion pehlwan (Kusti) wrestler finds time to relax in his sitting (majlis) area outside his restaurant. Script behind him says we extend our congratulations to these sheikhs....it's congratulating the two of them on the occasion of Sheikh Mohammed becoming crown prince of Ras al Khaimah.
Pastor Ruel Perez sings with the congregation before giving his weekly Friday sermon at Jesus the Savior Church in Al Jazirah Al Hamra. “Many Muslims here have come to know in their mind and understand that there is nothing wrong with Muslims and different Christians mixing together. God has actually opened the door.”
Fayez Ali is from central Syria and began learning to play the oud at 14. “I feel like I’m flying in space when I play music,” he said. Fayez arrived in Ras Al Khaimah in 1991 to teach music in government schools in nearby villages but in 1998 it was ordered that only women could teach music so Fayez set up an oud shop in the Ma’aridh area. Most of his repair work is done in a converted bedroom of his home while he sells ouds from his shop. Made of wood, usually walnut and sometimes the more expensive ebony, the oud’s sound becomes better with age as the wood becomes drier.
A laborer walks past a textile store in the Nakheel district of Ras al Khaimah on a Thursday night.
Inocenta Sanchez Ewart has lived in Ras al Khaimah for more than 20 years as an educator.
A Pakistani farmer walk to the farm he works on near Jebel Jais mountain in Ras al Khaimah.
“Ras Al Khaimah is my family. I lived with people here for 22 years so I saw a lot of good from people in the way they act, the way they talk, the way they treat people. They're very respectful people. So obviously I am sad to leave and be separated from these people. Then again, this is the circle of life,” says Imam Ali Abdulaziz Mohammed Al Shertawi (L) being greeted by a friend at the prayer yard during Eid Al-Fitr.
Mohammed Ashiq Hussain started Ashuk Ice Cream in 1975 in old Ras al Khaimah.
Moving to the Gulf in the early 1980’s Barbara Couldrey settled in Ras al Khaimah in 1997, near her two favorite passions sailing and mountain walking in the Ru’us Al Jibal (Hajjar) mountains. Here she stands in Wadi Naqab.
"I was 10 years old when I started studying from my father" says Mohammad Ishaque Abiur Rahman who has worked as an electrician out of his shop in Old Ras al Khaimah for more than 30 years. There weren’t a lot of motors for me to fix or factories with machinery," he recalls when he moved from Bangladesh in 1984.
Beginning in his early 30's Mohammed Abdullah Bahaji spent half a century building boom dhows nearly 30 meters in length (98 feet) of up to 800 ton capacity. Surrounded by eight of his 70 grandchildren he holds a photo of one of the dhows he built. Back row from left Saeed Abdullah Saeed Sa'adan Alshemaili, Aysha Abdullah Saeed Sa'adan Alshemaili, Sujood Abdullah Saeed Sa'adan Alshemaili, and Mohammed Qasim Mohammed Abdullah Al Hammadi. Front row from left, Maryam Abdullah Saeed Sa'adan Alshemaili, Rashid Abdullah Saeed Sa'adan Alshemaili. Aysha Ebrahim Mohammed Abdullah Al Hammadi, and Mohammed Ebrahim Mohammed Abdullah Al Hammadi.
Thursday nights are busy at Shahid Mehmood's, center, Good Morning Gents Saloon that opened in 1989 and is adjacent to his Good Evning Salon for Men. Shahid has lived in RAK for 26 years arriving from Pakistan at age 14.
When Hussein Mohammed Murad first joined the RAK Police band in 1975 he would sometimes practice his bagpipe along the corniche. Now he is a Captain with the police and conducts the band during performances.
Performing the Al Ayala dance during a celebration in Al Jazirah Al Hamra, Ras al Khaimah.