Photography, Film & Growth Strategy

We help lifestyle, wellness and sport BRANDS in Dubai GROW through visual storytelling — combining photography, cinematic video, creative direction and long-term strategic support.

Behind the lens · MEET MEL & ALTUS

OUR MISSION

BRAND Photography
 that makes your IDEAL clients FALL IN LOVE with YOU.

BRAND Photography
 that makes your IDEAL clients FALL IN LOVE with YOU.

Hi — We're a photographer, videographer and Growth Partner duo based in Dubai. We help brands create imagery that sells and strategy that generates consistent leads

My background is Industrial & Product Design — which probably explains the way I see things. Form, movement, detail and how everything comes together.

Photography and film became another way of exploring that. Today I work across photography, video and drone, mostly in sport, travel, hospitality and lifestyle.

At CookYourLife, Melanie and I bring two different backgrounds and two different ways of seeing together. We create visual content libraries for brands — real moments, strong imagery and content designed to live beyond a single post.

LET'S TALKSEE HOW I WORK

THE JOURNEY

My background is Photography + Advertising + Strategy. I studied Advertising & Public Relations at the University of Alicante, then Therapeutic Nutrition — and somewhere along the way picked up a camera that never left my hands.

My first frames were food and portraits for my nutrition colleagues. Before that, in my early twenties, I shot adventure sports for living — rafting, kayaking, canyoning. Some of those frames ended up in magazines. The rest taught me how to read light fast and tell a story in a single moment.

Today CookYourLife is part studio, part strategic partnership. I work with brands who want their visuals, words and strategy to feel like one considered thing — positioning them to grow the business, not just the feed.

SEE HOW I WORK

Altus Van Zijl

Melanie R Gonzalez

01

Less, but better.

One frame can do the work of twenty. Restraint is a luxury, not a limitation.

02

Strategy before shutter.

A beautiful photograph that doesn’t position you is just decoration. We think first, shoot second.

03

Quiet over loud.

Your brand doesn’t need to shout. It needs to be recognised — across the table and across the feed.

how WE work

Three things we believe.

A FEW DETAILS

BASED

ALSO

SPECIALISM

STUDIED

Started shooting

Languages

Dubai · UAE

International Swimming Coach 

Brand · Portrait · Events · Action Sport

Advertising & PR · University of Alicante

Adventure sports, early 20s

Spanish · English

BASED

ALSO

SPECIALISM

STUDIED

Started FILMING

Languages

Dubai · UAE

Industrial Designer

Video · Drone · Events · Action Sport

Cope Peninsula University of Tecnology

Travel acdventures, early 20s

Afrikaans · English

Melanie

Altus

Strong brands reflect the people behind them — clearly, consistently, and with intention.

- COOKYOURLIFE

Ready to fall in love with your own brand?

BOOK A CALL

Let's begin

Let's build a brand that does the selling for you.

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