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“This is a huge moment for me,” says expat Altamash Javad
The Crown Prince of Dubai is one of the most active leaders on social media. Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum takes the time to encourage talented individuals even when posting details about his adventures, official activities and inspiring fitness programmes.
The two lucky photographers to be “liked” by the Crown Prince of Dubai on Instagram are Indian resident Nishas Ahmed and Pakistani expat Altamash Javad.
Nisha Ahmed
A freelance photographer, Nishas just returned from his day job last week when a notification on his Instagram caught his eye. “I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw Sheikh Hamdan’s comments,” he said. “I checked and rechecked my account at least 20 times to make sure it wasn’t a fake account. After a while, my friends and family found out and they were overjoyed.”
The 27-year-old, who arrived in Dubai in early 2019, took this photo when an international yoga practitioner arrived in the country in November of the same year. “We wanted to take some pictures, and when we asked Shangri-La, they allowed us to take pictures on their premises,” he said.
However, it wasn’t until a few weeks ago that Nishas started posting the photo. “Because photography is something I do in my free time, it sometimes takes time to go through all my photos, find the best ones and post them,” he said. “I never thought this was the response I would get.”
Altamash Javad
Meanwhile, Altamash (@aljvd) is a professional photographer whose photos have been “liked” and commented on by Sheikh Hamdan many times in the past. “The first time was in 2016,” he said. “Instagram showed a photo of me, so he came to my page and commented. My friend was actually the first to notice and I got tons of messages and calls. A huge moment. I humbly thank him in my reply.”
Soon after, in 2017, the Abu Dhabi-born Pakistani started photography full-time. He said it took him a long time to decide to make a change. “I made it a passion in 2015, starting with my phone,” he said. “I received one of photography’s biggest inspirations when I attended a presentation by a photographer named Reza hosted by HIPA (Hamdan International Photography Awards). It showed me the power of photography. Since then I have It never stopped.”
Since then, he has achieved several accomplishments, including being featured on the official Instagram account five times and winning the Sheikh Zayed Mosque photo contest. He also sees his role in social causes as a huge victory. “I attended the Tashkir Plastics Fair recently,” he said. “I donated a framed photo from that exhibition to a school. It shows the impact of our littering and the impact it has on wildlife.” Altamash is currently documenting via his @masjidseries page on Instagram Mosques around the world to fight Islamophobia.
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Nishas Ahmed has a similar backstory on how he got his start in photography. “When I started college, the iPhone 5 just came out,” he said. “I started experimenting with photos. It was then that a friend gave me a basic Sony DSLR. It was a very precious gift, even I use the same now, although I bought one Updated camera.”
However, Nishas admits that being a photographer is tough. “I approached a lot of people and asked them if I could work for them,” he said. “I haven’t received a positive response. It’s not anyone’s fault, but the truth is, there are a lot of good photographers out there. Currently, I’m doing a lot of freelance work in order to build a portfolio. I hope one day I’ll be able to Turned to photography full time.
Altamash agrees it’s a tough market for photographers. “The popularity of photography has grown tremendously,” he said. “It’s become a very saturated market. There’s always new talent coming in, they don’t know anything about pricing, the vast majority of customers want to always save money, so offer the lowest price. You have to constantly differentiate yourself and offer great quality service.”
Altamash’s advice for new photographers:
1. Don’t shoot for social media.
2. Walk more. Make the moment happen and capture it.
3. Learn the basics of photography. Everything has to do with light. So, learn how aperture, shutter speed, and ISO interact.
4. Have a purposeful project and create around it.
5. Don’t over-edit.
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