A woman crosses the courtyard in the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi. I shot this while on assignment for National Geographic Traveler, a wonderful journey that took me all over the beguiling country and deep into the towering sand dunes of the Empty Quarter. The people were warm and friendly. I spent evenings eating goat under moonlight on carpets on dunes with a camel caravan, and crab curry on a fishing trawler. For this picture I spent three afternoons high in a minaret at the mosque, waiting for the right moment to fill the empty quarter I created in my camera’s viewfinder.