Skip to main content

Oil billionaire watermarks all future satellite photos of property

hamad-abu-dhabi-space-watermark
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Hamad bin Hamdan Al Nahyan, a 63-year old billionaire in the Abu Dhabi royal family wanted to declare his portion of the world to the rest of humanity. Stretching two and a half miles wide and nearly nine football fields (back to back) high, giant capital letters spell out “HAMAD” on an island in the Persian Gulf. The first two letters are filled with water flowing in from the gulf and a section of the “M” is starting to fill up with water.  The name is visible from space and shows up on all satellite photos including the Google Earth photo seen above.

hamad-abu-dhabi-space-closeWith this real-life watermark, all future aerial photos of Hamad’s property will bear this image and will remain in the final shot unless digital editing is used to remove the name. The canals for the name were dug for weeks by laborers, but there’s no indication of the cost of the project. The name of the island is Al Futaysi and is used by the Sheikh for recreation. It’s populated with resorts as well as gold courses. If all letters are filled with water, it’s likely that the canals could be used for a marina.

Hamad bin Hamdan Al Nahyan is no stranger to exorbitant spending on ridiculous possessions. Hamad created a version of the Dodge Power Wagon that’s eight times larger than the original and contains a four-bedroom apartment on the interior. He also built a motor home in the shape of the Earth that’s exactly 1 millionth the size of the planet. He owns over 200 automobiles including seven Mercedes 500 SEL, one for every day of the week. The cars are stored in a giant pyramid and are rumored to be equipped with gun racks to hold M16 rifles.

Editors' Recommendations

Mike Flacy
By day, I'm the content and social media manager for High-Def Digest, Steve's Digicams and The CheckOut on Ben's Bargains…
Fujifilm’s most-hyped camera has just started shipping
Fujifilm's X100VI camera, released in 2024.

The latest iteration of Fujifilm’s X100 camera started shipping on Wednesday.

The X100VI is -- as the name cleverly suggests -- the sixth in the series. Early reviews have been mostly positive as the camera builds on the successes of the already impressive earlier models going all the way back to the original X100, which launched in 2011.

Read more
How to resize an image on Mac, Windows, and a Chromebook
Windows 11 set up on a computer.

Resizing an image is something we’re all going to have to do at some point in our digital lives. And whether you’re using Windows, macOS, or you’re rocking a Chromebook, there are ways to scale images up and down on each PC. Fortunately, these are all relatively simple methods too.

Read more
Watch an acclaimed director use the iPhone 15 Pro to shoot a movie
acclaimed director uses iphone 15 to shoot movie shot on pro midnight

Shot on iPhone 15 Pro | Midnight | Apple

As part of its long-running Shot on iPhone series, Apple recently handed acclaimed Japanese director Takashi Miike (Audition, 13 Assassins, The Happiness of the Katakuris) an iPhone 15 Pro to shoot a short film.

Read more