Two years after the Ras Al Khaimah satellite station inauguration, I received a call at my office in Dubai. The caller was a young UAE national who introduced himself as an employee of the Ras Al Khaimah government. He wanted to know if we were the company that had launched their satellite tracking station. When I confirmed, he asked if we could supply him with the telephone number of the Scottish photographer who had taken the picture that was hanging in Sheikh Sakr’s court.
I sensed a business opportunity behind this telephone enquiry, so I probed the caller on why he needed the telephone number of the photographer, and he was forthcoming in his response. Ras Al Khaimah had just inaugurated its airport and it so happened that its telephone directory needed to be re-printed. The government wanted to commission Bill Fischer to fly in and photograph the new airport, to use his picture as a cover for the phone directory. On the spot, I assured the caller that we would be delighted to arrange the whole thing – via Bill Fischer – and promised to rush them a quote.
After an exhaustive search, we got hold of the photographer, who flew in through the old route: Edinburgh to London, London to Dubai, then by car to Ras Al Khaimah. The plan was to take a photo of an airplane in front of the terminal building and to show arriving passengers descending the stairs.
Upon arrival at the airport, Bill unpacked his cameras and began setting up, while I walked to the airport manager’s office because there was no one waiting to help as I had been promised. A male secretary was the only person in the office, and when I introduced myself, he casually responded that Kuwait Airways was still the only airline that flew into the new airport and its only weekly flight, which was due to arrive that day, had been cancelled. Before going back to his crossword puzzle, he said that we needed to come back at the same time the following week, since Kuwait Airways would definitely be flying in.
We did a quick calculation to compare the cost of Bill Fischer staying in a Dubai hotel for a week, versus his return to Scotland. The latter was more practical, so Bill returned, on the basis that he came back the following week. He did, and together we drove to Ras Al Khaimah’s airport after I had checked – many times – with the Kuwait Airways Dubai office that the flight was coming as per schedule.
Bill was ready – his camera on a tripod and set at an angle that framed the aircraft, the stairs, and the airport terminal building. The aircraft came to a standstill just in front of the camera and its door opened. A lady in a veil was the first to disembark. Bill started clicking. Suddenly, a bear-sized policeman stormed into the photo frame and dashed towards Bill. He snatched the camera, opened the magazine casing, pulled the film out of its cartridge, and by doing so destroyed all of Bill’s photos.
The lady was the wife of Ras Al Khaimah’s Ruler, who was returning from a visit to Kuwait, and the police officer was the head of the Royal Guard. Hence, we were not able to complain, and Bill Fischer packed and returned to Scotland empty handed.
On the third attempt, we all made sure that the Kuwait Airways flight to Ras Al Khaimah had enough passengers booked so as not to be cancelled. We also checked to make sure that all officials at the airport were aware of Bill Fischer’s assignment and were well briefed to help make it happen. Finally, all happened as planned.
When, after a few days, I sat down with the executive who had assigned us to take the photograph to get his signature on the invoice, which had been amended to cover the three trips, he whistled when he saw the total. I responded by saying that it would have been cheaper to have commissioned Leonardo Da Vinci to create a painting, instead of insisting on a Scottish photographer who was sent back home three times, before finally being allowed to do the telephone directory cover shoot.