David Deveson on Photographing the Kingdom Centre

This particular shot was commissioned for a television commercial about ten years ago (so far back in time I can’t even remember the name of the client!). I do remember however that there was little or no time for post production and I was asked if I would shoot it in digital, something I had never done before. The procedure was to be that I would send the shots back in real time via the net and they would work on them in post while I was on an aeroplane to the next location. I agreed (who wouldn’t for a trip around the world photographing iconic buildings for a TV commercial?) and duly went out to buy a digital camera. If I remember correctly it was an Olympus E40, considered to be one of the best in those days. I also remember that I viewed it with considerable suspicion since it didn’t even have a range of lenses, just a fixed zoom.
Hence it was, a week later, that I found myself in Riyadh confronted with this quite beautiful structure which is called the Kingdom Centre.
For those of you who have read this far I thank you for your patience because now comes my first ‘tip’ which is the whole reason I am writing this.

“If you don’t know what you’re doing, cover all the angles in every way possible”

I set the camera on a tripod, locked it off and set it on automatic with preference for an aperture at f22. Staring at dusk I then took a whole series of shots every fifteen minutes until night had fallen and then worked far into the night on my laptop selecting the best five or six, placing them on layers in Photoshop, adjusting the levels until I had stitched together something like I was looking for.
It looked good but there was something missing and I couldn’t put my finger on it. The next night I went to take the building from a different angle, something I was loath to do but felt I should also try something different and not be satisfied with the first result. While I was doing this I remembered something that a Lighting Director had told me when I was shooting commercials. What he said was something so simple, so profound that I have never forgotten it.

“Never be satisfied with what you see in front of you, always find time to look over your shoulder.”

God bless him and that is my second tip (even if I have stolen it). I did just what he had told me to do and before my eyes was one of those amazing skies that you just have to photograph. I forgot all about the alternative version of the Kingdom Centre which I was shooting, turned the camera around and shot the sunset. That night was spent placing this beautiful sunset into the shot from the night before. I had put my finger on what the shot was missing. A magic sky.

The rest is history.