The Empty Quarter

Nonagenarian Tor Eigeland has seen it all in his decades as a photojournalist. Here he reflects on a 1970s visit to Saudi Arabia...

- Tor Eigeland

After a lot of complicated bureaucracy, my cameras and I, plus 100 rolls of film, had finally arrived where I wanted to be: speeding through the desert sands of the Empty Quarter of Saudi Arabia. It was 1970 and I was there on assignment for a chapter of the National Geographic book Nomads of the World. After driving through the cool of the night and welcoming golden dawn, our jeep rounded another sand dune to land in a cluster of five Bedouin tents. After the customary, lengthy greetings, we were soon seated on rugs in a tent, ready for the traditional coffee ceremony.