Liwa Desert and the Making of ‘Dunescapes’

High-definition landscape photography of the dunes of Liwa Desert in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. High-definition limited edition prints available up to 150 inches.

A sweeping panoramic view of the astonishing high dunes landscape of Liwa Desert, captured in the early afternoon

Posted in Photography Articles
Text and Images by Andrew Prokos

In my previous articles I have touched on the fundamental characteristics of ‘gallery-quality’ artwork, and I have presented the production process for my large-scale framed photographs. In this article I will return to the past, to the source of one of my series produced in 2022. The series is entitled ‘Dunescapes‘, and it is a series of landscapes from the Liwa Desert in southern Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Some of you may find this terrain familiar, having been featured prominently in the Dune feature film franchise by director Denis Villeneueve and based on the popular books by author Frank Herbert. The scenes of the desert Planet Arrakis in Dune were filmed exclusively in Liwa. Liwa was also the location chosen as the planet Jakku in the 2015 film Star Wars: The Force Awakens. My own sweeping panoramic views of the incredible desert landscape at Liwa are composed of numerous 102 megapixel medium format captures, allowing extremely detailed prints even at the largest sizes.

A bit of background on Liwa and how I came to photograph it. The Liwa Desert covers a vast area of the southern part of Abu Dhabi and it also partly lies in Saudi Arabia. This vast area is more famously known as ‘The Empty Quarter’, or Rub’ al Khali in Arabic, and contains some of the highest sand dunes in the world. It is a paradise for photographers of course, and especially for photographers who specializing in vast sweeping views like me.

Liwa is a magical place, not only for the color of the sand and the sheer size of the dunes, but because of the interplay of light on the dunes as the day progresses. Early on in the day the light gives the dunes a pale, golden color. As the sun lowers on the horizon and the light becomes warmer the high dunes of Liwa take on a truly beautiful pink salmon color, and then finally a reddish orange color at sunset. Even at dusk the dunes continue to dazzle, and they sky turns dark the dunes take on a pinkish-blue color. But the Liwa Desert is not only a physical location, it’s a state of mind. I’m convinced that spending time in this vast expanse of quiet and solitude is rejuvenating for the mind and for the soul, and I only wish I could have spent more time there.

See the entire Dunescapes series here

High-definition photo of a high dune from the Liwa desert in the Arabian peninsula, Abu Dhabi, UAE. Large-format prints of this photo are available up to 72 inches.

A high dune in the Liwa Desert captured around 3pm

A large-format landscape photograph of a rosy-hued sand dune from the Liwa desert in the Arabian peninsula captured at dusk, Abu Dhabi, UAE. Large-format prints of this photo are available up to 72 inches.

A high dune in the Liwa Desert captured after sunset at dusk

The back story

I had visited Dubai and Abu Dhabi for the first time in 2019. I was invited to the country by the UAE Embassy in Washington DC as part of a cultural delegation of photographers, writers, museum curators, and architects. In the hands of the Embassy’s Cultural Diplomacy Department we were treated to so many aspects of the culture, including a brief introduction to the magical Palm Oasis at Al Ain, the eco-city of Masdar, which is also located in the desert of Abu Dhabi. What we were not exposed to was a direct outing in the desert itself. That left me with the desire to plan it on my own.

Fast forward to 2022. We had lived through the COVID pandemic (which nearly killed me in early 2021, but that’s a different article) and it was slowly fading out. I had processed much of what I had shot in the UAE in 2019 and it resulted in many wonderful long-exposure images , night images, and the conceptual photo series Inverted UAE. I had the opportunity to return to the UAE to present some of these new series in my solo exhibition ‘New Abstraction‘ at the 2022 Xposure International Photography Festival in Sharjah. I had seen many desert tours promoted in the UAE, and especially in Dubai while I was there. But it was only after the Festival had finished that I decided to return to Abu Dhabi for a well earned rest. While in Abu Dhabi I was in touch with the local Dubai landscape photographer Anthony Lamb, who mentioned that if I really wanted to see a pristine desert environment I needed to go to Liwa. I took his advice and hopped into a rented 4×4 with a friend and took off for the desert. There was no time to lose, my stay in Abu Dhabi was coming to an end and we had to head back to Dubai the next day.

The road to Liwa is one of the longest, straightest roads you will find anywhere…perhaps only the Western USA or Australian expanses can compare. You can drive for miles barely seeing a soul…especially the further you get from Abu Dhabi. I was concerned however, that the road was entirely fenced in on both sides along the way. How would I ever get in to take the shots I wanted so badly to capture?? The text messages between Anthony and I flew and he had never seen fencing before…was this some new development? I was worried that I might never get a single shot. Fortunately, at the end of this three and a half hour trek southward toward the Saudi border the desert dunes finally started to become more apparent. They grew taller and more abundant…the fencing finished and there was hope that soon we would find a way in. At the very end of the road were the small desert towns which served as the staging grounds for camping excursions. We continued to push in further until we found the pristine dunes I had envisioned and parked the car by the side of the road. The rest of the day was on foot.

Hiking in the desert is a joy…the only sound is that of the wind and the sand beneath your feet. The sense of tranquility is hard to explain, but I wish everyone could experience it. Having an entire day to hike and explore the tranquil high dunes with my camera was a blessing indeed. I am old enough to know now when I am experiencing a special moment in life…one which I should take note of, as they are fleeting. More than anything the time slipped by as I tried to capture the dunes in their myriad shapes and tones. The texture of the sand and the contrast between light and shadow which defines this totally unique landscape.

I chose to capture Liwa in both color and in black and white. Heresy for some photographers, but each serves its own purpose and I don’t see the point of limiting myself to one or the other. The color photos from Dunescapes are all about the subtle tonality of the dunes as the day progresses. The delicate golden texture of the sand, the pinkish hues of the dunes, and ultimately the deep red-orange of sunset. In black and white I captured the angular nature of the dunes in relief and in higher contrast. Black and white strips the images of their disarming hues, but one can almost see the shape of the desert more clearly for it. They have an almost archaeological quality to them…a timeless view of the pristine landscape that I had the privilege to have all to myself for a fleeting moment in time.