Dunescapes is a series of large-scale landscape photographs of the Liwa Desert in Abu Dhabi, UAE. The photographs were captured using a 100 megapixel medium format camera and the panoramic views are composed of several exposures merged into one seamless image. This allows for very large-scale prints to be created with an astonishing level of detail and crispness. I have chosen to present both color and black and white images here in the same portfolio. I find it almost impossible to choose which is my favorite. The color photos show the rosy pale hues as I remember them, and are very luxurious and seductive in their color. The black and white photographs present the angularity of the dunes, and make the the astonishing height and scale of these high desert dunes more apparent. I couldn’t choose, so I presented both. I have been very gratified to have had an amazing response to both, including sales to collectors within a couple of months of shooting them. Sometimes it doesn’t pay to be a purist.
I visited Liwa in February 2022 upon the advice of both a photographer friend and an architect friend. The place was a magical realm of undisturbed high dunes without tourists bopping about in dune buggies ruining the dunes, as can be the case closer to the city. After a long drive from Abu Dhabi I was becoming dispirited. Where were all the glorious dunes? Sure, I saw dunes…behind very high metal fencing which ran the entire length of the highway for hours. However, as we approached the town of Liwa the endless sea of dunes became more apparent to me.
The magical thing about Liwa is not only the color of the sand and the size of the dunes, but the interplay of light on the dunes as the day progressed. The sand took on a rosy pink-coral color that was breathtaking in its vastness. I could have stayed for days, and will surely visit again.