Baume & Mercier honours royal photographer Noor Ali for contributions to photography.

DUBAI (December, 2007) - “Magic of Cinema" a six-day photo exhibition of the outstanding works of world-renowned photographers of the Magnum Photo Agency, concluded with a fitting finale yesterday when Noor Ali Rashid, the royal photographer of Dubai was presented with a Baume & Mercier watch for his contributions to photography.

Michel Nieto, fomer Chief Executive Officer of premium Swiss watch brand Baume & Mercier who sponsored the Dubai event, and Mohammed Seddiqi, Chief Operating Officer of Ahmed Seddiqi and Sons UAE distributors of the brand, presented Noor Ali with a luxury time-piece for his life time of service as a photographer of UAE’s royalty and foreign dignitaries.

Commenting on the brand’s tryst with photography, Mr. Nieto remarked: “As a proximity Brand, the territory retained by Baume & Mercier for its “below the line” actions is photography. Proximity is the core value we want to emphasize through our communications and photography is a very good way to do this. Our brand defines itself in the present and photography is about Immediacy”, Mr. Nieto observed.

“Magic of Cinema” was sponsored by Baume and Mercier. The exhibit opened on December 11 on the sidelines of the Dubai International Film Festival and comprised an exhibition of 82 coloured and black and white photographs of Hollywood actors and directors taken by 40 photographers from Magnum.

Magnum photographers have been involved in the documenting of the world of cinema, working on film sets, photographing film directors, actors and actresses on and off the camera and documenting their lives. Magnum photographers have collectively covered the modern history of cinema.

Photographs in the exhibition included legendary names such as directors from America, France, Great Britain, Italy, India, and Egypt including Orson Welles, Alfred Hitchcock, Roberto Rossellini, Satyajit Ray and Youssef Chahine.