We’re often asked what's our favorite thing about the UAE.

Is it the larger than life lifestyle? Or that you can usually count on blue sky and sunshine? Or is it just really fun to live in a place where impossible isn’t a word you often hear?

Our answer? It’s the people. Every single time. 

We walk on set and it’s a veritable United Nations of clients and crew — we’re blessed to have met and worked with incredibly talented people from all over the world and all walks of life… but this shoot takes the cake.

Merchant Cantos approached us for what on paper looked like a simple project for the Abu Dhabi Department of Community Development. 

24 Portraits. Stills and film. Black and White. 

But the brief was anything but. 

What does Abu Dhabi really look like? Who lives there? How do we represent the beautiful diversity that we are lucky enough see every day?

After a very thorough casting of nearly 200 people, and a little bit of help from DCD’s partners in Abu Dhabi, we filmed and photographed a series of incredible humans - people with determination, strength, wisdom… and some who were pretty cute to boot! 

Beautifully photographed by Katarina Premfors, and filmed by Toby Plummer, we are proud to have been a part of such an empowering project that shows what we love most about the UAE.