Yemeni Photographers Break With Tradition
Young photographers carve a space for themselves in a society that does not always consider the art form a legitimate profession.
Amr Attamimi, 22, lives a double life. He studies information technology and spends most of his waking hours working in his father’s store in Sanaa. But early mornings are his, a sacred time when he develops his real passion, photography. While the advantage of working at dusk is the great light, the disadvantage is the lack of models, so most of his photos are self-portraits. Just the same, Yemenis are not crazy about public photography.
In fact, girls have physically attacked Attamimi when they thought he was taking their photo.
“I can’t walk around with my camera,” he complained in an interview with Al-Monitor.
Attamimi bought his first digital single-lens reflex camera three years ago with money a dear friend lent him. He built his own studio with halogen lights from the market and homemade light boxes.
