UAE: 3 photographers examine the true meaning of light from the inside out – News

They were at the Xposure International Photography Festival in Sharjah

Bombora. The name of Australian photographer Andrew Semark’s booth at the Sharjah Xposure International Photography Festival sounds fun and exotic. The walls are adorned with luxurious visuals of the ocean – hues of sky blue, emerald green and matte gray blend with the frothy white of the waves.

break the waves. This is what Bombora means. This is what Andrew has been obsessed with for 15 years, capturing it with his photos and showing it to the world.

Andrew is fascinated by the ocean and knows the waves up close. He learned to surf first, and as he expertly read the features of rough waters, he devoted himself to capturing their grandeur, beauty and power in camera. Commitment – such is Andrew’s passion for art that depicts the dynamic nature of the sea’s surface in stunning ways.

Everything one sees in the pictures is natural – from the shape of the waves to the myriad of colors they display. While the sea is blue in popular descriptions, one look at Andrew’s work and you know it’s not just blue.

“It’s all about the light. It illuminates the water in different ways at different times of the day,” he asserts when I question the ever-changing colors of the ocean in his images. His effort to bring the ocean to life in his photographs is evident when he talks about the detailed plans, the dangers he faces, and the moments he needs to be present when capturing images.

Misjudgment or a failure to react quickly to oncoming waves can spell disaster, and he was nearly drowned two years ago. “My eardrums were ruptured and my arms were badly bruised by the camera as I was thrown around by huge waves and pushed into the ocean floor,” he recalls without trembling.

The ocean is where Andrew entrusts his life. The risk didn’t stop him from going to sea because the ocean humbled him and brought peace and purpose to his life. In the end, he compares ocean waves to humans – each one is different, sometimes eccentric and violent, but always has its own beauty.

If the human spirit had to be summed up in pictures, if the meaning of life could be distilled into a single phrase, it was Michael Aboya’s compelling visual story, titled The Inner Light. Light Within). For all those who think that photography is all about randomly clicking a few photos in our point-and-shoot devices, it’s time to reconsider their fallacy.

Twenty-seven-year-old Michael’s foray into photography has spiritual significance. His journey begins the moment he searches for meaning in life by asking tough questions like why he was born and what is his purpose in coming here. These questions came to him at the age of 19, when his father died untimely, a loss that devastated him. It was photography that pulled him out of his grief and allowed him to see life and the world around him with a new perspective – a perspective he hopes to share with the world through his compelling photographs of people.

Each image depicts hope, joy and love captured spontaneously. “It reflects the light that we all inevitably carry. Photos can speak to us, and through the photos I take, I want to tell people to be strong and have faith despite the darkness around them. Also, I realize that in order to find Myself, I had to capture other people’s stories because no matter what they were going through, people always found a way to be happy. I decided to find out how they did it by taking pictures of them and studying them,” said Michael, who Full of firm conviction and wisdom.

Insightful annotations that accompany the Ghanaian photographer’s work are expositions of his philosophy and positive views. Together with these, his photographs become ready liquidators of life and instantly inspire troubled souls. “Your art makes my day,” commented one visitor summing up the impact Michael’s work had on his audience.

If Bombora is an interesting title and The Light Within is uplifting, the connotations of Fallen Leaves might sound a little melancholic, but what I saw at Filipp Kabanyayev’s photo booth was the most beautiful one can see at a photo fair. Optimistic picture. Leaves, leaves and leaves, but neither in shape nor color, people associate with fallen leaves. Is this really photography?

“It is. It’s a combination of natural elements and human technology. Leaves are not something that people think is beautiful, especially fallen leaves. So I wanted to show their beauty through light painting photography,” explains Filipp.

There is nothing complicated about Filipp’s creations. They are minimalist yet stand out with vibrant colors and textures. Bringing such splendor to something as mundane as a falling leaf takes great effort and patience, and Philippe finds his love of art deeply soothing and meditative. “The hardest part,” he said, “is that every leaf is different, and finding the right angle to bring out its unique qualities takes time.”

For someone who does not easily express his thoughts through words, his art helps him to present his view of the world in an artistic way. For him, like Andrew and Michael, photography is more than just a hobby or a means of earning a living. It is life itself. This is what sustains them and keeps them in sync with their souls. Their photographs depend on external and internal light, and each of their clicks is a tome in itself.