Sand and the City – Dubai, UAE | International Photographer Ernesto Sue

This was my second international photo shoot, my first being in Trinidad & Tobago and now my second in Dubai. If you had asked me several months ago, would I be writing a blog about a photo shoot across the world in the Middle East, in Dubai, I would have said absolutely not, but here we are.

I have always traveled, but it was always to a tropical island, South America or somewhere in North America. I have never traveled across the world, so this trip for me was a first on so many levels that I absolutely wanted to ensure I documented and maximized my entire time during my trip to an amazing destination such as Dubai. That said, in addition to the below photo shoot, you will be seeing other content from this trip in the very near future.

So, let’s talk about this photo shoot. Here was the plan, arrive on Thursday; scout for interesting locations on Friday and do the photo shoot on Saturday. The one element I didn't factor into my plan was the time difference -- - Dubai is approximately 8 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time, so when I arrived it was Friday morning and not Thursday. I literally lost an entire day. I became fully-aware of this when I arrived. Fortunately, the resort my wife chose for us to stay at was very beautiful and was an ideal location for shooting. I asked the front-desk if we can do the photo shoot on the grounds, to which they said, yes. With logistics for the photo shoot handled, I was able to get some sleep and prep for the shoot the next day.

On the day of the shoot, everything fell into place like brilliantly. However, we had to complete this photo shoot before 7:30 AM, as we all had plans for later that morning. Ni Ckii our model arrived promptly at 5:30am and immediately began to sort out the wardrobe selections with Nicole Sue (my wife / stylist). While Ni Ckii and Nicole were working out the wardrobe details, myself and Wayne Wonder the videographer and my business partner -- - decided to quickly explore the resort grounds which we didn't get a chance to do previously. Once I found a starting spot, I returned to our room with the intention of reminding Ni Ckii and Nicole of our tight timeline, but to my surprise I didn't have to because our model was ready to go.

The shoot itself went very quickly and smoothly. Ni Ckii was an absolute professional, so much so that I had to provide very little instructions to her. The only significant factor we had to deal with was the heat, even though it was early in the morning, it was hot! I suppose if you are in the middle of a desert that is a reasonable expectation.

Ni Ckii, thank you so much for being so awesome and completely professional even before we actually had a chance to meet in person. Ni Ckii was extremely responsive, which made the communication process from across the world so much easier.

Wayne Wonder, thank you for getting those epic BTS videos that documented this process for all to see, hear and learn from.

Nicole Sue, thank you for being instrumental behind the scenes with coordinating the agenda for this trip; working with Ni Ckii on the wardrobe and for securing a resort that served two purposes.

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