The Angsana Spa, Dubai

This was one of the very first spas to establish itself in Dubai. An urban oasis in every sense of the word.

We had two full days to shoot around two dozen images before the spa's official opening.

You'd never know that mere steps away, outside of the glass mosaic walls and mineral baths, lay the bustling marina waterfront. It was so quiet inside you could hear a butterfly in flight.

Here is a handful of images from that shoot.

The Ritz-Carlton, Dubai

It's always great travelling to the Gulf of Arabia on assignment. Give me any project in any of the gulf states and I'll gladly jump through hoops. The arid conditions suit me and my cameras just fine. Especially in wintertime!

It was in early January this year that we flew into Dubai to photograph the Ritz-Carlton resort. A splendid Mediterranean inspired property that sits on what must be the most coveted stretch of beach in this slightly surreal city.

As always, we had the time of our life.

I rarely make references to the clients that I work for.

By this I don’t mean the companies that bankrolled the many wonderful assignments I have been given over the years, but the actual persons responsible for giving me the brief and the support that is needed to help me do my work well.

Their names must remain unspoken for obvious reasons.

But you know who you are.

And I want you to know that each and every time I pick up a camera I am reminded of the fact that none of the images that exist here could have been created, without you.

And that I am grateful beyond words.

The Eastern and Oriental Express

I've always loved Planes, Trains and Automobiles. Can't explain why. So when the chance came to produce a fresh portfolio for the Eastern and Oriental Express, I didn't just jumped. I flew.

The images were shot in-situ between Bangkok and Singapore and while the train was docked in its stables at Tanjong Pagar. The route took us - among many other places - over the magnificent wooden bridge at Kanchanaburi, and on to the nearby town where the historic Bridge Over The River Kwai still stands today.

The couple was played by Serena Adsit and Michael Stein, whose looks, wit and intellect made the shoot an absolute pleasure from beginning to end.

Enjoy the images. Elsewhere here, you find the ones that we produced for that other great Far East Journey, the one enigmatically referred to as The Road To Mandalay.

Crowne Plaza Changi Airport

In late 2007, in between Singapore and a project I was laying the groundwork for in Myanmar, I first set foot in the Crowne Plaza Changi Airport. My task was to reconnoiter the property - which I would photograph for the owners in the middle of 2008.

The superstructure was already up and the interior was being fitted out, but it was still very much a construction zone with the guts of the place hanging out of every feature you could point a light to.

Even in that state the scale and concept of the property was breathtaking. I became a fan of WOHA's work not long after this shoot. And these days take silent pleasure in the way they are so boldly repainting the local architectural scene.

I was planning to arrange these images either in chronological order of the shot-list, or perhaps as a kind of guided image tour moving from the outside in and then throughout the hotel.

For the time being at least that will have to wait.

In between the magic light hours of dawn and dusk, and while we're setting up for the interiors, I like to stroll around a property I am photographing to pick up a few cameo shots of whatever grabs my eye. I also make it a practice to try to shoot a few staff portraits even though this is not always called for. Publishers like CondeNaste love shots like that in their features. And you never know what you're going to get in terms of a spontaneous and totally unrehearsed performance by people who are seldom in front of a camera (at least not professionally).

I can't fully remember what sort of direction I gave these three chaps. But I think it was something along the lines of ..." think of what you're going to prepare for the VIP party from Uzbekistan who are springing a surprise visit to the restaurant in half an hour..." or words to that effect.

They took it away from there and I managed to squeeze off a dozen shots of the three chefs before you could say "Yes, Marco!".

Hey Simon Cowell, Singapore's Got Talent too!

I had a grand time setting up in the guestrooms and suites. We had space enough to accommodate all four of us although Vincent, the third assist, had to virtually reside in the bathtub while we played with the shadows on the walls. The glass bathroom walls made it much easier for us to create the dappled light that I like to use to illuminate room interiors. I took a panoramic version of this room which made for an interesting perspective. It's still buried away in a hard disk.

When it came time to shoot the Bar and Ballroom, we wanted to give these shots a slightly edgier content. The bar shot was actually 15-20 shots of the same model in different make-up and costume, a multiple exposure with the camera and tripod locked off. The conference set-up was very refreshing and a somewhat bold departure from the norm and I spent close to 2 hours shooting several angles of the coliseum-style seating. This was one of the close-ups with the male talent, who reminded me of Steve Carell for some reason.

Stage One of the photoshoot took us, in all, six full days working around 16 solid hours a day. The weather was with us which helped tremendously. The haul was good. Around 300 images of 45 subjects, sets and scenes. As usual, editing all this would be a daunting task in the weeks to come. But it's a good problem to have you'll agree.

In a year, I would return to this place. This time to shoot the gardens and landscaping which by the time the seasons had passed would be lush and verdant.

But more on that when the time comes.