Banyan Tree AlUla, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Feb 10

I had a dream about wild camping. There were mountains surrounding my tent and the wind was flapping my roof left and right. I woke up and looked out the window. Sun was slowly coming up. I picked up my Leica and Canon cameras and rushed outside. The morning was cold, refreshing, and beautiful.

I woke up in Banyan Tree AlUla Resort. This dreamy place is located in the northwestern part of Saudi Arabia. Far from any lights, noise, and pollution of our daily lives. Far from the madness of city life. Far from many things and thoughts. I always wanted to travel to Saudi and I have been fortunate to do so over the years. This place was something very special. Something new and exciting.

This time I was invited to come and create photographs of Banyan Tree Resort, AlUla. This project was published in many online and print magazines, and social media, but I was commissioned to come and create images left and right from every corner of the valley and the resort. There is so much to photograph around luxury tents, f&b, spa, pool, and surrounding landscape areas. List in long, challenging but manageable.

Hotel & resort is under full operation and during the busy seasons can be very time-consuming shoots. An image, which would normally take an hour can be 3 hours easily. Areas that are on the list to shoot can get last-minute, VIP bookings and it has to move to another day or get canceled. There are many challenges you could face and you have to have many years of experience to not end up empty-handed on the way home.

I was not very fortunate with the blue sky, puffy clouds, and nice valley light. It was cloudy and not the light I would love to shoot with. The shoot was going smooth, but slow. Last day, late afternoon clouds started to clear up and it was my very last chance to focus on landscapes. I had to focus on this as a priority for the last two hours of great soft light. This light brings the beauty of this whole valley and resort. I jumped on the golf cart and started to cruise around the whole area, walking up the hills to reach extra elevation. Rush, Rush to get this done. Dark. The job is over. Text day, flight back to Dubai.