Road to Sharurah, Shaqqat al Kharitah, Saudi Arabia

You can make all sorts of arguments about what the final frontier really is — space, the ocean — but George Steinmetz (National Geographic and GEO contributor) has a different opinion than most: the desert. Specifically the Empty Quarter, which consists of the land between Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates. It’s one of the most oil-rich and sparsely traveled areas of the world and its topography is equal parts alien, mysterious, and always in flux. Once defined by its staggering geography and tales of Arabian nights, now the uninhabitable area (larger than France) is being shaped by politics and the oil industry. Using traditional methods as well as his very own motorized paraglider (he literally straps a fan and a parachute to his back to fly low and slow), Steinmetz has illustrated the area in a way that challenges the perception of one of the most interesting places in the world. While his book, The Empty Quarter, is both a stunning display of the work and a unique glimpse at the changing socio-climate, the large-scale prints currently on display at Anastasia Photo are exceptional examples of documentary photography that operate as well as art as they do as scientific illustrations. Steinmetz took a few minutes before departing once again, this time for Algeria, to speak with PLANET.