Photographing the Desert X 2024 Visitor Center in AlUla, Saudi Arabia

Architecture by KWY.studio, photography by Colin Robertson

As soon as our (third!) trip to Saudi Arabia to photograph Desert X in AlUla was confirmed, I reached back out to KWY.studio to ask them if they were designing the visitor center again, and if I could photograph it for them…

Some backstory…

In 2020, the job to photograph the visitor center was not pre-planned. The studio asked if Lance Gerber, the photographer for Desert X, could find time to shoot it. Lance was not in a position at the time to do it as the artwork needed further documentation. So he offered to have his assistant, me, shoot it for them. I was thrilled to have the opportunity... but four years ago I was still a bit green as an architectural photographer and I felt a lot of (self imposed) pressure to do a good job for them. Luckily, Ricardo and others from KWY were on-site to let me know what was important for them to see and and helped me style the furniture. The 2020 pavilion was pretty small so it only took an afternoon or two to get the images. I was fortunate enough to nail a few of those photos in terms of entourage (sorry about the ‘hat lady’ Louise!)... This was due to the fact that most or all of those images were shot on opening day so the crowds were diverse and natural.

In 2022 I received an email when we had arrived in Saudi Arabia asking if I would be able to document that years visitor center for the 2022 Desert X exhibition. I was overjoyed to be asked! This project was larger in scale—the building itself, the exhibition site, and the photography. I believe it was due to covid, but KWY was not able to supervise the construction as closely or attend the opening. There were architectural elements that needed to be ‘fixed’ in post production and some of the furniture and decor was not to KWY’s specification. I began shooting it on the day of the press or VIP opening and quickly learned that those were not ideal days for capturing the entourage—it was extremely hectic with lots of staff and attendees moving about. I had access to a drone this time and was able to capture aerial perspectives of the building—key views and something I we hadn't coordinated in 2020. There were stunning vistas in two different directions and the building reflected that. Post production was a lot of work but the images came together in the end. You can read about that experience here.

The 2024 Visitor Center

I was thrilled to hear back from KWY.studio that they were indeed involved in designing the visitor center again and that they again wanted me to document it for them. I had a call with architects Louise and Charlie who were well prepared with a slide deck with exactly what they were looking for in the documentation (as well as being open to my creative interpretation of the space). The construction of building was ahead of schedule and our trip was perfectly scheduled to overlap the opening of the exhibition. KWY was even going to be on site at the same time...

Situated in the an alcove of rock formations (that we later learned was a heritage-site that we weren't supposed to climb on... 😬), this year's visitor center is even larger than prior years' buildings.

Even more so than prior years, the 2024 building is symmetrical—intersecting squares with a circular oculus to the sky and surrounding desert. The design draws visitors into the building from the drop off area. Once inside you have an open-air peek at the surrounding environment. As you walk through, there is a cafe on the right and a gift shop on the left. Once through the structure, it offers a panoramic view framing the valley as you sit at a table for a coffee or begin your walk out to explore the art installations.

Logistics

Lance and I had a very last minute schedule change due to a non-negotiable—we needed to have all images ready for the catalog by the date we were originally set to arrive, so we pushed our trip forward a week to accommodate. Unfortunately, due to last minute trip bookings this also meant we would be leaving a few days earlier than originally planned—a day before the public opening of the exhibition, which is the ideal time to capture the kind of entourage I look for.

The bigger shooting challenge had to do with trying to get photography done around the rearranged furniture and staging for the press conference. We also learned that as soon as the press conference furniture would be taken down, VIP opening furniture would be set—cocktail tables, etc. The architects really wanted shots with the normal furniture layout—so with all credit due to Louise and Charlie, we begged and pleaded with the stagers to give us a window to work in between setups. It was a very short window but we took it and cranked out the last few shots. We also took images with the press and VIP furniture out to highlight the multi-use nature of the pavilion. In the end, I missed not having the authenticity of the public interaction with the space, but we did have plenty of models with the docents, admin and press.

Editing

One challenge we had post-shoot was that we missed creating a grand composition that matched the prior two exhibitions where I had used my 17mm tilt-shift lens to take multiple frames that I stitched together to create an even wider view of the space (see video below). This was done out of necessity for those years as I did not have room to back up and get the full opening of the oculus in one frame.

With this year‘s pavilion, I had plenty of space to get the full opening in one frame. However, what was missed is the fact that these extremely wide-angle shots produce a huge perspective that dramatically defines the oculus of these structures. Because I didn't need to use this stitched wide-angle shot technique in order to see the whole opening, I missed getting the grand image. So... we faked it!

This is the big challenge with shooting projects on the other side of the planet—you can’t exactly just go back if you missed the shot or didn't get it exactly how you wanted, so you have to lean pretty hard on Photoshop.

Another example: I would have loved to have taken this shot from the rock crevice at a different time of day, however after scouting the location we were told we were not allowed to walk or climb on the rocks here. Fortunately, I did take a number of frames on my initial trek up and despite the light not being the most ideal, I think the shot holds up well. In Photoshop, I segmented the foreground, midground and background and added a layer of haze to the background while emphasizing the contrast of the foreground to help separate the foreground and background rock.

Exploring the space

This year, in addition to checking off each composition on the shot list, I attempted to really explore the space and get creative. Like the above shot from the rock crevice, I tried to get past the mode of simply shooting photos of the building and into the mindset of exploring the building as a human in a three-dimensional space...

Some of these more creative compositions ended up being some of my favorite photos from the shoot. I could have easily spent another day just experimenting and finding new and interesting angles.

These projects are a pleasure to photograph and I'm grateful to have been given the opportunity each year I have done so. The goal has been to create a cohesive whole in the documentation of each visitor center and it's a goal I hope to carry forward.

Photographing the 2024 visitor center had its challenges, but it was really great to spend some time with Luise, Charlie and Riccardo while working to capture this gorgeous piece of architecture—no doubt a tremendous effort to realize on their behalf!