If there’s one thing there’s a lot of, it’s timelapse videos of the UAE. What with the often blush bright sunsets, the winding and soaring skyscrapers and the strong straight highways that flicker with the lights of traffic jams, the emirate is a timelapse fan’s dream.

But this one, now this one is special.

Taken by Dubai-based photographer and cinematographer Beno Saradzic from many spots across Dubai and Abu Dhabi, this beautifully paced film called The Visit is a study of the clouds that roll through our coastal cities so suddenly and so dramatically.

“There are many wonderful subjects one can photograph or film in the UAE,” explains Saradzic of his film. “Some of the most spectacular structures and sand deserts on this planet are here. But every cityscape, landscape, architecture or travel photographer in the UAE or from abroad will tell you that one thing they’d like to shoot more than anything else in the UAE is the ‘rolling fog’.”

“This natural phenomenon appears all over the world but mainly in nature and in mountainous regions. In the UAE though, the fog turns cities into scenes from Sci-Fi films. Its arrival is highly unpredictable and while there are methods of forecasting it, they are hardly reliable and can never be fully trusted. That’s why many experienced UAE photographers keep track of the humidity and temperature which under certain conditions, leads to the formation of fog. The rest of the time goes into scouring for rooftops and spending many sleepless nights waiting for the ‘magic’ to happen. It’s hard work, as you can imagine.

“The fog appears out of nowhere. It usually forms in the desert and just before dawn, it falls onto the land like a thick cotton blanket. Like a ghost army, it swallows the cities, leaving only the tallest of skyscrapers above the fog’s horizon… and that’s the reward all photographers are waiting for. It’s such a fascinating sight to observe the fog move between and around the buildings, like an intelligent organism of some sort. It’s a haunting and utterly fascinating sight.”