- Expat Ghadir Shaar travelled across the UAE exploring its landscape and hidden gems
- His video took 10 months to shoot and complete
His love for nature keeps him coming back to the Love Lake. On his recent trip to Al Qudra desert, Ghadir Shaar took these amazing shots.
Shaar said: "I like Al Qudra and love lakes, they are an amazing escape from the city to the nature. Also, they are very close to the city, which make them very convenient as well."
"Whether you’re an early bird or sunset chaser or just going to relax, you’ll never be disappointed when you go there," he added.
I have been visiting this area for five years now and it’s amazing how it is developing and becoming more attractive and accessible. Dubai Municipality has done a great job. They are a must visit for any resident or tourist visiting the UAE.
It was love at first sight. The rugged mountains and sea of rippling sand dunes. It made him restive. The only solution for Ghadir Shaar was to travel - the length and breadth of the UAE, documenting the country’s natural beauty in 2017.
“I am a very outdoor person and in love with Nature. I have been travelling across the UAE exploring its landscape and hidden gems, and here is where my idea came to create this film,” he told Gulf News.
Shaar was talking about his travel piece, In search of Elysium, that took him 10 months to shoot and complete.
“I started shooting and working on this film in November 2017... some locations are within the city and some take you around three hours’ drive to reach. It shows Nature’s beauty, which is bountiful in the UAE. The different terrain of the deserts and wadi, all are sure to allure people to visit.
“What triggered me to do this film is that most of the film content created about the UAE is focused on the cities and not as much on the beautiful landscape. I wanted to create something that shows both, along with the diversity of the country and that it’s not only glamorous cities but also vast beautiful landscapes. I wanted to show all that in an artistic and cinematic way.
What triggered me to do this film is that most of the film content created about the UAE is focused on the cities and not as much on the beautiful landscape. I wanted to create something that shows both...
The best was ...
“It’s really difficult to tell you how many places I visited during the production of this film, but I can definitely tell you that they were all incredibly beautiful and each place had its unique experience and left a unique feeling in me. I guess my special trip and place was in the hidden mountains of Fujairah, where I had to drive my truck very deep in the rugged mountains to reach to some untouched and unknown places, places where no internet or any man-made connection could reach, just Nature.”
Value what you have
Shaar, 31, thinks of the short film as a tribute to the UAE, where he has lived since 2012. Born in Syria, he started his career in Dubai in technical recruitment, in the renewable energy sector. He quit his job earlier this year and set up his own company in media production and content creation, to pursue his dreams.
“We often stop seeing and appreciating the value of where we live or what we have after a while. I wanted to give back to this country and show appreciation to the place I live in by showing its beauty and landscape to the world from my perspective.”
The different places
The film features different places from around the UAE including the Hajjar Mountains, Hayl Mountains, Wadi Hayl, Al Qudra lakes, Love Lake, and Fossil Rock to name a few. To capture some of the footage, he used a drone.
“Whether the cities, mountains or deserts, these places are very distinctive and therefore, they offer a very unique experience to the visitor, something you won’t see or experience elsewhere but in the UAE.”
