Photomanipulation nominee

I love re-imagining the photos in ways which change the storytelling aspect of the visual, not just the colour of pixels.
In this image, I wanted to tell the story of the incredible transformation which took place in the desert, the story of the birth of Dubai.
To execute this visual, I started by photographing my wife in front of Dubai's skyline, then I photographed individual elements such as the sand dunes and the boardwalk. I replaced the sea in the middle of the image with the photo montage of the desert, painted the drifting sands and colour manipulated the image until I was happy with the overall narrative and dramatic effect.

Slovenian born Beno Saradzic is a multi-specialist visual artist with residence in Dubai, UAE.
Beno is known in professional circles as a film director and producer, editor, conceptual and pre-visualisation 3D artist, and photographer – among others. Beno attracted tremendous public attention in recent years through his virally shared time-lapse films, and is increasingly known as a fine art photographer, successfully conveying his passion through ambitious, unique and effective visuals. Beno is a Canon Explorer for Europe & MENA countries as well as brand ambassador for NiSi filters. His work was featured in many international publications, newspapers, blogs and photography portals.
He is a winner of numerous of international awards in the field of photography, time-lapse cinematography and film production. Most notable among them is the Emmy Nomination in 2014 for his achievements in time-lapse cinematography for the BBC's ‘Wild Arabia’ TV series. In 2015, Beno won a Gold World Medal at the New York Film Festival for his work on the film commissioned by the Abu Dhabi government and as a producer, he won a Silver Dolphin Award in the 2014 Cannes Corporate Media & TV Awards.