Self-published Photobooks
Closed for Prayer
I created Closed for Prayer while stuck in Saudi Arabia during the summer of 2020. The photos were taken in Rahima, a small town just outside our compound. We typically schedule our shopping in Rahima around the Call-to-Prayer when shops and stores close down. On this evening, however, I decided to wander the empty streets while the locals gathered inside the Mosques. This provided a unique opportunity to capture the deserted shops and stillness that I otherwise would have missed.
Closed for Prayer can be found here.
Notes on Rahima
The town of Rahima, located just outside our compound, is a bit rough around the edges. It's perfectly safe, but aesthetics is certainly not a top priority for whoever runs the place. Abandoned cars, misplaced couches, and wind-blown plastic bags are a normal part of the fabric that makes up the Rahima landscape. On most mornings the streets are full of both Saudis and ex-pats running errands at the local outdoor markets, shops and fish stands. During Friday morning prayers, however, the streets find themselves abandoned. Rahima becomes a photographic playground of empty storefronts, partially constructed buildings and stray alley-cats. It's among the least attractive, yet fascinating places to fill a frame!
Notes on Rahima can be found here.
Notes on Najmah
The majority of the last eight years have been spent in Najmah, our compound in the Eastern province of Saudi Arabia. If I'm not at work or home, I'm roaming. Looking. Hunting. Searching for the long-forgotten areas of our compound. I'm taking photographic Notes that help me better understand this land-of-desolation we've dropped ourselves into.
The photographic Notes I've taken on Najmah range from empty and dull to colorful and unexpected. Our small compound has an area of only one square mile. Many say there's not much to see or appreciate, but I've found that this space in the desert has many hidden corners full of visually curious images bursting with form, color and textures that overshadow its otherwise bland surroundings.
Using the camera intuitively, I've attempted to hunt down the common everyday sites, as well as those long-forgotten and run-down, to create a notebook of what Najmah is and what it once was.
Notes on Najmah can be found here.