Photographing Ithra: SARAB's Fine Art Images for Saudi Aramco

Written By Ahmad Alnaji

Saudi Aramco commissioned SARAB Art Production, the fine art architectural photography studio founded by Ahmad Alnaji, and flew the studio to Dhahran to create the fine art imagery and hero shots of Ithra, the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture.

Saudi Aramco flew Ahmad Alnaji and SARAB to Dhahran to create the fine art images of Ithra, the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture. The building is one of the most iconic of the Norwegian architectural firm Snøhetta. Photographers travel to this building on their own money, just to have it in their portfolio. We are very proud that we were trusted to define how it looks, and flown in to do it.

The center has many zones and activities. We were assigned to cover them, including the main lobby, the library, which is a stunning multi-floor space that is the perfect escape for studying, museums, the kids’ area, the theater, and the cinema. One of the strongest and my favorite frames is for the theater, a 900-seat auditorium. I used the running concert rehearsal to get a photo with the full stage lights and lasers, giving the viewer a shot that conveys the space’s story and mood. The library is another stunning architectural space. It can be a project by itself. The full white, multistory section gives you plenty of ideas to play with.

The rarest photo of the project was literally the last now. As I was finalizing the last planned shot at sunset. I have encountered an Arabian red fox. Unfortunately, I did not have an ultra-telephoto lens, so I used my R5 with its 24-105 and shot it against the building’s metallic structure. I was so lucky that it gave me the perfect pose. Because these animals are so sensitive to humans, you can get close to them or they will run away and you will lose your shots. And that frame became one of the most iconic images of the whole project. I was told by the team that no one ever was able to capture it around the center; they only saw it or heard about it! The photo was featured in the Center magazine, along with more information.

That is what Saudi Aramco paid for. A clean photo of Ithra is easy. Making a whole collection of images that stands as fine art, that holds a wall and earns the trip people make to see it, is the harder thing, and it is what we delivered. Ithra is still one of the projects I am proudest of. Because many photographers are ready to shoot it just to add it to their portfolios, we were trusted by one of the world’s biggest brands to create the official fine-art imagery for it.

Check out the full fine art imagery for King Abulaziz Cultural Center

Ahmad Alnaji

Ahmad Alnaji is a fine art architectural photographer based in Dubai and the founder of SARAB Art Production, a studio that specializes in fine art photography of landmark architecture across the UAE, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia. He studied architecture for three years before moving into photography, and he reads a building the way its architect designed it, which is why architecture firms tend to recognize their own thinking in his images. He prefers the title of artist over photographer.

His work treats a building as a subject worth a story rather than a record of how it looks, bringing fine art to cityscape, architecture, and hospitality photography through visual storytelling. SARAB created the fine art images of the Museum of the Future that the museum and the UAE Government Media Office used in official promotion of the building, photographed Wasl Tower by UNStudio inside and out, One Za'abeel by Nikken Sekkei, and Zayed National Museum by Foster + Partners, and was commissioned by Qatar Tourism to photograph Qatar's landmarks. Clients include Foster + Partners, UNStudio, Killa Design, Saudi Aramco, Dubai Tourism, and Qatar Tourism.

https://www.sarab.art
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