My journeys through the Middle East began back in 2014 with a photography trip through Jordan. That’s when my photographer’s eye truly opened to this region. Every trip afterward only intensified those early impressions. I was drawn into everything that felt like the heart of the Arab world: the mosaics, the ancient mudbrick buildings, the soaring architecture and splendor of the mosques, the modern skyline of Dubai, and the whispers of civilizations thousands of years old. After Petra and Al-Ula, America and even Europe suddenly felt so young.

The shapes, the colors, the textures, the tastes of the Arab world still excite me.

As I planned this trip, I felt a tug — an awareness that my time visiting this region might be drawing to a close. There were still places dangling on my wanderlust list: the Museum of the Future, the camel races, Qatar, and Oman. What mysteries waited for me there? What hidden gems might finally reveal themselves?

In the UAE, my body followed my eye almost instinctively — especially at the National Museum of Ras Al Khaimah, where my camera couldn’t click fast enough. Khurfakkan Falls offered playful photo moments, and the little restaurant tucked behind the falls still calls to me. Al Ain layered history upon history — its forts, Qasr Al Muwaili, Al Jahili Fort, the Al Ain Oasis, and of course, the unforgettable Camel Market.

Doha, meanwhile, felt modern like Dubai but moved at an entirely different pace — its skyline rising behind the Royal Camel Parade. I never knew Qatar once thrived on pearl diving, nor that its history stretched all the way back to 4600 BCE. I even visited Stadium 974, the site of the 2022 World Cup. How did it get its name? Those questions finally had answers. And then there was Oman. Muscat’s souk dazzled me with its silverwork — I still wish I had picked up a few of those beads. At the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, I stood in awe before the hand-woven carpet made of 1.7 billion knots. How many hands touched that rug? How many families can say, “My knots live on here”? What a legacy for the 600 Iranian weavers who spent four years creating something that will be admired for centuries, if not millennia. In Nizwa, a city dating back before 500 AD, I felt the pull to return someday with a full photography kit — to wander the ancient streets at predawn and listen for the stories of how people lived, and how they continue to live. After morning photography, I’d return to the souk to taste dates in every imaginable variety. I still look at my photographs from the Gulf of Oman and remember having the beach entirely to myself — the sunrise catching in the breaking waves. This journey carried me to places I had never even imagined: • the Camel Market of Al Ain, • the deep stillness of the Al Ain Oasis, steeped in history.