Making or taking pictures has been a very old hobby and profession. With the new inventions and modern technologies the art of taking beautiful photographs has constantly been evolving.
Now is the time for mobile photography. The advent of smart phone cameras has revolutionised the art and the technique of having instant and perfect photos. Though DSLR (Digital Single Lense Reflex) camera are still preferred, there are leisure photographers who are focusing on mobile cameras and getting extraordinary results.
One such person is Mohammed Muslim, an Indian expatriate living in Qatar since 2009. He uses mobile camera to pursue his hobby of taking or what he calls making photos. And, he has been getting extraordinarily enviable results. Using his mobile phone camera, he has won many photography competition awards in Qatar and abroad.
Photos taken by Muslim through his mobile phone camera are a part of an ongoing cricket photography exhibition at Katara. One of his digital painting work has also selected to be exhibited at another exhibition named ‘The Colours of Desert’ started at Katara yesterday (Thursday evening).
While they expertly capture gorgeous landscapes, the perfect latte, portraits of friends, and mesmerising street scenes, Muslim speaks to Community, who is a project manager by profession and is currently working with Hamad Medical Corporation, and have some seriously down-to-earth advice.
Muslim, a native of Hyderabad, India, has been attracted towards photography and cameras since his childhood, “My father used to sell cameras. One of his friends gifted me a camera that I used to play with, without it having any film rolls. Slowly and gradually, I developed my interest in photography.
“When I grew up, I started doing photography with my cellphone camera. I was not able to buy a good DSLR camera. I have however been using digital cameras for photography but I have focused on smartphone cameras. I thought why not to master the art of taking artistically beautiful photos with the smartphones.”
There are multiple reasons for Muslim to use a smartphone to pursue his passion of photography. Not being able to able to purchase a DSLR camera being one of them. “It is really interesting to tell that I have never bought a smartphone. The first one I got was a gift from one of my friends. I have won all other smartphones as prizes winning different photography competitions.”
He added, “Smartphone cameras have actually made the art of photography easier and simpler. It has become more convenient and more colourful. It is actually the future of photography. Different smart phone companies continue to pay more and more attention on camera and increase their technical capacity.
“Nowadays, everyone carries a camera. We can take instant photos, edit them and share on our social media handles. We also get instant feedback. With my smartphone camera shots, I compete with DSLR users. Over 90 percent of my award-winning photos were taken from my smart phones.”
Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy has selected Muslim as a photographer in the FIFA 2022 Photography Programme. He has also won many awards. “I won Katara Photography Festival in November 2017, Chi Al Shaqab Photo Contest in March 2017, The Luc Tuymans ‘Your View’ Challenge 2016, and Society, Gulf Times Photography Award 2014. I have also taken part in different other competitions and exhibitions. I have also done certification in photography.”
He added, “I am a self-motivated artist mainly into creative photography. But I have also been participating and doing various fine arts including painting. I have also acted in different stage plays in India. I have also been making and acting in short films in Doha. I have done a few short films for Doha Film Institute and for Mathaf Arab Museum of Modern Art.”
Muslim believes in making photos and not in taking photos.
“My photographic philosophy is that you don’t take photos, you make photos. Using the smartphone camera is a skill and we can make the best photos if we use the mobile cameras skilfully. Mobile camera is future of the photography.”
CREATIVE MIND: Mohammed Muslim, an Indian expatriate living in Qatar since 2009, uses mobile phone camera to pursue his hobby of photography.
