Artist finds herself through photography

AMMAN — Our lives may be hard, raw, and empty at times, but there is always something that makes us human, that stops us from acting like machines, and that may ensure immortality: art. اضافة اعلان

Human beings tell stories to remember and to be remembered. Hiba Nabulsi, a young Palestinian woman who’s from the land of knafeh, Nablus, a land she never saw, but whose taste and smell she knows well, uses photography as a window to a world where she can express her deepest feelings and where she found herself. 


(Photos: Hiba Nabulsi)

She shared her story with Jordan News: “I am not sure I can describe myself. I graduated last year from Yarmouk University, and I love photography. That is my life.”

One of the most endearing moments of her career as a photographer was when she was young and “would take random pictures of my family and the places around me.”

“Having a camera was not very common at the time, so I started taking pictures with my phone in 2010.” 


(Photos: Hiba Nabulsi)

Like most artists, she is inspired by the world around her. One of her early inspirations came from her family.

“I wanted to take a picture of my father drinking coffee and smoking a cigarette by the window, so I started directing my father and told him to take a book that was on the table,” said Nabulsi, for whom that image is still poignant.
“I took that picture in 2016. When I go back to my work from the last few years, I always analyze it and find things I could have done better, but this frame never gets old,” said Nabulsi.


(Photos: Hiba Nabulsi)

The act of creation may be scary, Nabulsi admitted. 
“I am afraid of doing big things and failing, (but) I am in my comfort zone in photography. It is an art that has grown naturally inside me,” she said, although now film has become a new window of expression for her.

“I am at the point in my life where I do not know whether to do more film or photography; it is impossible to master both, and I do not want to be just enough in both, I want to do great things,” said this young photographer.
Being a photographer in Jordan may pose a challenge. 

“Sometimes you have to do projects you do not like because you have to eat, you have to survive, but I always try to bring a little bit of my essence in any shot I take,” said Nabulsi.



(Photos: Hiba Nabulsi)

“Before I take a picture, I feel great stress. I think I may not be able to make it,” she said, recalling the shooting she did with musician Tamada. 
“I went to Wadi Rum to take pictures of Tamada, and I was afraid to will not be able to get the connection, but in the end, I felt that adrenaline in my body, and I managed to find the perfect cohesion between him and my lens. The result was a powerful image in which the musician gave the optical illusion of rising among the rocks.”
 
Photography for some people is a hobby; for others, it can be a way of remembering life. For Nabulsi, “it is like a diary. I am not the type of person who writes, and the way I can express myself is through my images.” 
Starting photography without a camera is odd. Hiba had to borrow one from friends or rent equipment before, as she “had no money,” but “now I bought a very nice used camera, a Sony A7R II”.


(Photos: Hiba Nabulsi)

Nabulsi grew up with the family. It “was beautiful. They are a big part of who I am now and what I will be, but in a way, I will always feel blurry inside. I feel the need to catch the light to describe how I feel.”

She creates universes through her lenses. And reconnects with her humanity: “At the exact moment when I lose control over my reality, I know I am about to create something exciting, and I go back to my beginnings as a human being.”

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