Shadi Ibrahim on his practice of photography
Director: Yasmine Eid-Sabbagh
Duration: 00:38:42; Aspect Ratio: 1.333:1; Hue: 86.043; Saturation: 0.109; Lightness: 0.403; Volume: 0.124; Cuts per Minute: 0.052; Words per Minute: 90.783
Summary: Shadi Ibrahim is one of the photographers who runs a studio in Burj al-Shamali camp. In the course of my work in the camp, I interviewed him on his photographic practice and what his images meant in the social life of the camp. The interview generated a set of complicated questions round questions of identity, religion, gender and representation. Through the interview I also had an opportunity to reflect on my own relation to images and the social relations they engender.
Burj Al Shamali
No, no I don't have to go to the courses, only the beginners have to
attend.
What about editing?
Yes, I want to do editing.
So?
For the moment I'm photographing, but later I have a another idea that I
want to achieve,
There is still lot's of time.
0:00:32.159 iron
How much?
When will you start?
Not before October, or November. For the moment they do only training.
But they will recruit in August.
Is Ahmad happy with this?
Ahmad!!
Ok, let's start! Let's first talk on how you started photography and how
you learned it?
0:01:05 638
My name is Chadi Ibrahim, I'm a photographer. I learned photography at
Najdeh Association. It was by accident, I didn't plan to study
photography. I have studied architectural drawing, in this sense my
specialty is different than photography. But I used to hear a lot that
Palestinians are restricted to work in different proffessions. They are
not allowed to practice it unless they get the (lebanese) nationality.
One has to have the nationality of the country in order to work in his
specialty.
I heard about the course at Najdeh association, and as we know
photography is a free job. You can work with it any place you would like
to. You don't have to hold the Lebanese nationality to practice it.
The Najdeh association was your first step but now you have a studio in
the camp, what happened in the time between you studying at Najdeh and
you opening your studio.
At first after graduation I didnt have a studio, I worked with a friend,
he was an audio specialist, and I was a specialist in Video and
photography.
Then I bought a video camera and a photo camera. Our work was a little
bit limited at the time, I used to shoot at weddings, take pictures for
people at their homes, and in open spaces because I didn't own a studio
at the time.
People liked our work. I did computer montage, photoshop and digital
work on the pictures. When i started the digital was new, people were
still using film for camaras. Using digital was very tempting for
people, because everybody likes to improve his/her pictures, with more
colors, imaginary backgrounds and more. We were the first to work with
these new equipments here at the camp. This of cours helped me to get
more work. The demand increaesed. And this result made me have an aim. I
wanted to get a studio in order to have a stable work place.
In order not to keep on working as freelancer... After 2 to 3 years I
had the possiblity, so I opened a studio in the camp, and thanks to God,
I did well and bought a new camera and flash lights. I got different
backdrops, and I painted backdrops as well. I always kept on looking for
new ways of work, things never done before, I used to do more different
things than the usual ones. My first aim was not the money. I just
wanted to save something to invest it in futur plans.
I worked and everything was fine.
Ok, what year were you at Najdeh? And in what year did you open your
studio?
I dont remember.
Just to have an approximative idea ...
1997 - 1998 -1999 maybe
What year was the Najdeh training?
1999
In 1999. And when did you open your own shop?
I guess, I opened it in 2000, maybe a bit earlier, I don't really
remember it.
But.... 97 - 98 - 99 , yeah 99 right.
There is one more thing I want you to talk about. You started
photographing here in the camp, but also in other places. I remember I
also saw pictures in black and white. You know how to take them
well,right? Where were they taken?
When I opened my shop I traveled with the as-Soumud to Norway. There I
met a photographer. We talked about photography, and how much I have
learned and what I've learned. And surely the course I had joined was a
bit limited and out of date. It didn't cover everything like printing
and digital photography.
So the idea of Cultural exchange came up through the as-Soumud
Institution. I had an invitation to Norway to study photo printing.
Black and White pictures weren't that known at the time. People
preferred color pictures. So when I went to Norway, I found that there
is something very special about the pictures, something like a unic
flavor. Even the way of work differs, and it has a different but
beautiful touch. Surly I took the course at a privat studio. The name of
the photographer was Bjorn Nohartimon. He sent me the invitation. I
took samples of my work with me. And he showed me some of their work as
well. We compared both and there was a big difference. They love
nature, and we actually don't have much nature over here.
We are obliged to use artificial nature and photoshop backgrounds. But
in Norway it differs, black and white pictures are very special to them.
It's considered a tradition for them. So it's very important for them.
Ilearned printing at his studio and I learned from the base. For example
what were the equipments used, on what kind of papers can be printed,
how to zoom in, zoom out, or keep a medium size, what are the chemicals
used for developing,what are the chemicals used to hold colors on, how
to use the red lights, and all the other things. All of this I learned
in Norway.
And when I came back, I brought with me new ideas from Norway. I used
Black and White, I used the mixture between Black and White and color.
The training I had in Norway, affected my work positively and gave me
new ideas which are different than what we had. This helped me a lot
because no body used Black and White at that time.
And what do you think, now, do people over here still prefer color to
Black and White?
What?
Hello Ibrahim, Your pictures are done, ok!! Come another time, God be
with you, Inshaalah.
So, what do you think, now, do people over here still prefer color to
Black and White?
Well it depends on the client. It varies, some people ask for Black and
Whit ...
There is people who like Black and White photography. They ask for it
These kind of clients differ from others. And there are other people
that do not like Black and White and just love color pictures. Some
people want to renew the old Black and White pictures they had before.
If their pictures where scratched or lost their color with time, most of
the work is restoration and reparation. The pictures might be destroyed
or shredded, or the colors faded.
some people might even ask us to color their Black and White photos.
You surly do know about our archive project, that we do try to gather
old photographs. For the camp to keep it as a visual memory. You know
that most of the history is transmitted orally. Our idea was to find
visual documents and keep them. So we thought about starting with
photographs... What do you think of this project, what is it that you
like or don't like about this project? Say honestly what you think.
Maybe I didn't contribute much to this project, but I liked it as an
idea. So many people died and their pictures and memories died with
them. Keeping an archive to prevent our memories from fading, is a great
thing to do. We as Palestinians faced a lot of wars from Israel on
Lebanon. We had to migrate from place to place. We lost a lot of
memories, and through what you are doing we can stay in touch with our
memories. We can know past lives, as well as how photography was used.
It's a great idea!
Extract from an article published on arteeast in January 2009:
The time that I spent living and working with this group, and having access to a space in which to set up an atelier were essential to the evolution of the project. It allowed us to develop a collaborative relationship with the group and to expand our collective work on Burj al-Shamali's visual memory. Even though the group I've worked with have not been directly involved in the archiving work that we have done of the past few years, it was through the exhibits of their work in the camp that we have been able to win the confidence of the community in this more recent initiative to collect and document the visual memory of Burj al-Shamali. This visual archive of family photographs and films that we are compiling can, for the moment, only be accessed through the atelier.
Read full article:
http://www.arteeast.org/pages/artenews/art-engagement/213/
But we have a thing that might cause a problem. Some of the women might
have been, bear headed when their pictures have been taken but now they
wear a veil. So it's kind of a sensitive subject. If we keep these
photographs not every body would be allowed to see them. Only the
"muharrameen" (the father, brothers and husband of the woman) are
allowed to see the hair of a woman following the law of Islam.
Extract from an article published on arteeast in January 2009:
The publishing and circulation of these photographs continues to be be handled carefully. At the outset of the project we were invited by a newspaper to publish some of the images alongside an article on politics in Palestine. We collectively decided that the images could not be used as illustrations, but could only be published with detailed captions and in the context of projects initiated through the atelier. For example the elders in Burj al-Shamali that Yasser has photographed do not represent all Palestinian men of their generation, but have particular histories and experiences. Each of Yasser's photographs is accompanied by detailed biographical information. Like all photographs to have come out of this project, they have been produced in a particular context and are not meant to illustrate the cultural, social or political life of Palestinian camps in general, but the specific experiences of refugees living in Burj al-Shamali.
Read full article:
http://www.arteeast.org/pages/artenews/art-engagement/213/
I'm talking about myself as a studio owner. I can't go and review
pictures even though I have film negatives. I can't go through them if a
woman was uncovered when her pictures was taken and than later covered.
This is a very important issue in Islam, and also according to our
culture and traditions.
Can you please tell me how do you work. It is very important for me to
understand. And I learned this rules from you. How do you manage if a
girl was not covered, when you took her photo, and then she veiled? What
do you do in these situations?
Well concerning this subject, the veil, if a girl was uncovered, and then covered, I have a girl in the studio to take care of their
pictures. I don't work on these pictures. I let the girl do the job.
Also veiled women come and don't want a guy to take their picture. They
want a girl, so there must be a girl in the studio to do the job.
Can you do the retouching on the computer?
No, no, concerning the computer and the photoshop work, there is a
computer specially for veiled women.
I have another computer which is specially for veiled women.
The girl in the shop works on it, and no one can open the computer but
her. It has a special security which is her finger print. No one can
open it except her.
This is a very sensitive issue, not only for the people, but also for us as a studio that cares for its reputation.
We have to follow this rule, we cant just mix all together. I might search for some ones name, and
another person might carry the same name, one of them might be veiled
the other not. I might see the two pictures. That is why we are very
careful about this, and we separate the work on two computers.
Some people even ask us to delete their pictures after being developed.
We tell them that their pictures are in security and that we can keep
them in case they wanted to develop more of them later. Sometimes we
give the digital files to people on CD's and delete what is on the
computer while they are standing in the shop. It's something private for
them. But of course, there is people who might just accept to let
pictures knowing that they can't be seen by anyone.
Extract from an article published on arteeast in January 2009:
The process of collecting old photos for the archive continues gradually. In the course of discussions about what should happen with the archive we have encountered similar ethical dilemmas related to the question of how to disseminate these photographs and to what extent they should be made publicly available. Despite these concerns we continue to encourage the community to carry on sharing their old photos with us. Over time we hope to develop alternative strategies for circulating the images that we are producing and collecting, which until now have remained largely unseen.
Read full article:
http://www.arteeast.org/pages/artenews/art-engagement/213/
I wanted to ask you, some people gave me old pictures to add to the
archive. These pictures, are from the 50's, 60's. The women were not
veiled. Even though they told me that it's not a problem. What is the
solution for this issue? As and example one lady who gave me pictures
from the 60's showing her unveiled told me that it was ok because it was
not her, like her being today. According to you what is the best
solution for this issue and the archives?
gz
It's a bit of a hard question, cause we are talking about the Islamic
law now. If a women is older than 9 years she is supposed to be wearing a
veil. Even on photographs she must be wearing a veil.
Surly some people don't know the Islamic point of view concerning the
picture. They just talk according to their own understanding and
ignorance of the Islamic Law.
We are not supposed to show any picture of a veiled women without a
veil, or a hair cover. At least any thing should cover her hair. It's
forbidden in Islam for ladies to show their hair. Hair are considered
being part of the aura. Exactly this is my opinion. What Islamic law
says, is how it is supposed to be. I don't know how, but some people have
their own interpretation. So some might allow, others might not. But my
opinion is clear.
And how do you deal with pictures when a person died? Can their picture
not wearing a veil be seen or not? What about the following
generations...?
Well, I'll tell you about my work. Sometimes people come with a woman's
picture on which she is not covered. The woman on the picture passed
away. They ask us to put a veil on her. A lot of people asks for this.
And this work is made by a girl, because girls know how to draw the
right veil and how to choose the right colors.
And others don't ask for anything, they don't care if she's not covered
on the picture. The subject differs a bit, of course, with women who
have died already. If we were to talk about a dead person we should only
talk about the virtues. We always have to do what is right. If she is a
women, a Muslim, she is meant to be covered.
Tell me a little bit about photography in the camp. How many studios is
there in the camp today, and how many studios were there in the past?
There were three studios in the camp before I started working in mine.
Actually four, not three, if I remember well. One of them quit
photography and closed his studio just before I started working. There
was a girl who had a studio, she was still working. The other
photographer gave his studio to his brother and traveled.
What are these studios names?
"Studio Renoir", "Studio Nouf", "Studio El Noursi" and I can't remember
the fourth studio's name but I remember the name of the photographer.
She was called Zeinab El Hanafy. These were the four studios.
The Noursi quit just before I started, Zeinab used to work and stop,
than work again etc. And Studio Nouf belonged to my friend Wassim's
brothers, before he became the photographer of the studio. Today we have
a deal. Sometimes we work together and we also agreed on lower prices.
He took over the studio from his brother before I started. When I
opened my studio, I start with new material, new ideas... It was a big
change for photography in the camp. I started working with digital
cameras in the time that people knew only film cameras.
But mainly they were four studios: one closed; one wasn't fix; then
there was a photographer called Nadia Zamel. She graduated in the same
year as me, but she didn't work in a continuous way. Another
photographer called Ali Masoud studied photography with us. He worked as
a freelancer, but he didn't have a studio. I asked him sometimes to
help me in weddings. Wassim used to help me also. These were all the
studios that appeared once I started. Some of them traveled. Studio
Zamel and Studio Zeinab closed. Ali Masoud went to Germany to work as a
photographer there. And the only available studios in the camp are mine
and studio Nouf.
Tell me about the studios in the 60's, the 70's and the 80's, were there
studios in the camp?
In the 60's and the 70's, there weren't any studios in the camp. There
was a photographer called Darwish who was professional. His son is the
one who taught us in the Najdeh course. There was Studio Darwish, Studio
El Soussi, and Studio Skayki. These were the first three studios, all
of them outside of the camp. Yhey still have branches today. If people
wanted to get a photograph taken, they had to go to Tyr.
Another question, is there any place now in the camp where students can
learn photography? And once they graduate can they easily find jobs?
Tell me about the procedure.
First, i had been invited by The National Institute for Social Care and
Vocational Training. It is known in the camp as as-Soumoud children's
center, to teach a photography course in their institution. I accepted
this invitation and I made up a full timtable for this course in order
to forme qualified photographers and I presented this plan.
They liked it and I start teaching based on my experience: my success in
the camp, and the basics I learned during my classes in Norway. I
studied many courses in Norway, and I'm always updated on news. If I
wasn't qualified I wouldn't accept this offer, because teaching is
something confidential. If one is not qualified, one shouldn't teach.
When it comes to photography, there is a ocean of knowledge. As much as
we might teach, there is always something missing. So I taught a little
bit of photography, a little bit of video shooting and a little bit on
photoshop and montage programs. These are the four classes that we teach
at the institution. We only give a resume of each class, and when the
students graduate after eight month they work as trainees. They should
improve by themselves after graduation, by searching on the net, by
making traineeships... They should study all the courses because each
course has a higher expectation than the former course. We have some
excellent students. There is no need to say their names in order not to
create any misunderstandings. They worked hardly and became
professionals. When I need help from time to time to shoot a wedding, I
ask them to help me. This improves my work as it allows me to shoot
three or four parties at the same time. This also allows them to gain
money. I can count on them, and I treat them as my colleagues not as my
students. Some students work in Studios in Tyr, others work as
freelancers in Tyr and Saida. And some of the students are going to
start shooting in a new television which is very good. It shows that the
institution graduates professionals. These photographers will have
success and make a big difference.
My last question, where is the art in photography?
I express my sensitivity and my point of view through photography. Every
person has a different perception of the same picture. When I see
something in particular, that speaks to me in a particular way, I try to
express this poetry or this message to people in an image.
OK. Fine.
We didn't talk yet about Bjorn and what he comes to do.
Tell us about Bjorn!
In our institution, there are graduate students that couldn't find jobs
even though they have a good qualification and a good experience. Bjorn
comes from time to time and trains our superior graduate students and
helps the others improve themselves.
When was his last course?
His last course was about printing photographs and the mixing of all
materials. He mainly spoke about Black and White pictures. He couldn't
teach more because we didn't have the proper equipment.
The picture format used in the camp's studios generally is the JPG. He
introduced RAW file Programs. It's a program in which we can change the
colors and the lights in the image. The photographs become much
clearer... he explained adjustments of the pictures using the RAW file.
He also explained a little bit about how to express an idea through a
picture.
Would you like to add something, about photography in the camp?
Photography in general? Or photography in this society ? Is there
something important to add?
I would like to say something concerning the photography students. They
shouldn't look to photography as a way to earn money only. They should
consider it as an art, a way to send a message and express an opinion.
Especially in our case being at heart of the Palestinian issue. In which
image can make a big difference. It is more important than a speech. We
had enough letters. Sometimes the right picture can show how much we
are related to our land, how much we are ready to fight to get it back. I
like when photography reveals national issues. It allows us to send our
message from the camp in Lebanon to everywhere in this world. This is
one thing, the second is that we can reveal our situation in the camp
through pictures. We can show things in images, there is no need to keep
talking only. We can show our photographs in exhibitions. It woul
allow us to talk about the electricity and the sanitation problems, the
school problems. We could talk about drop-out children who left school
to work. We could also mention the job problems, the diffculty of a
smith to bring iron into the camp. They need a permission to enter the
iron to the camp. We should send this ideas through images to all people
in this world. It's our right to express our difficult situation in the
camp through photographs and not only through speeches. The image is so
important.
That's enough for now, you should take a rest.
It's OK, I coud talk still.
You still can?
We'll keep that for another day. For today it's enough, thank you.
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