Forget edited-to-within-an-inch-of-their-life shots of the skyline, this series shows the real heart of the city.

If you search the hashtag #Dubai on Instagram, you’ll find hundreds upon hundreds of shots of the Burj Al Arab and Burj Khalifa, glowing against the night’s sky.

However, as we all well know, the emirate has more to it than just sprawling malls and striking structures.

And that’s exactly what one local photographer has set out to capture with his bookmarkable series.

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UAE-based snapper SK Sohaib Athfaan focuses on the lives of residents in Dubai’s melting-pot of a city, revealing that the emirate’s diversity makes for a rather spectacular subject.

“Dubai is such a busy place, one hardly gets time to reach out to people, let alone hear their stories and get a glimpse into moments of their lives,” the photographer told StepFeed.

“I aim to capture, a smile, a tear hidden in someone’s eyes, or a surprising moment, and I believe that every photo I take is a part of the subject’s life, a part of the person himself.”

From cycling coffee sellers to delivery drivers on the job and some of the city’s more quirky architecture, Athfaan has managed to encapsulate everything we love about Dubai in one Instagram account.

(And we reckon he’ll see his hundreds of followers transform into the thousands in the very near future).

We’ll leave you with some of our favourites from his account…

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Images: SoHighB/Instagram