Interview: Bashar Alaeddin, photography

Around three weeks ago we featured the photography of Bashar Alaeddin. Bashar had submitted his impressive work to our Flickr group and we are certainly glad he did. Recently we asked him for an interview and he was kind enough to grant us one, enjoy!

1 ) Tell us about yourself:

I’m a Middle-Eastern mix of Jordanian, Lebanese and Palestinian origins and I currently reside in Jordan. I’m a digital photographer, motion designer and blogger. I have 2 major passions in my life: One is visual arts- absolutely everything about it. The second is attempting to shed light on social affairs around the world. I’m a tech-geek when it comes to cameras and optics. I read a lot about politics, philosophy and geography. I’m 29yrs old, an Aquarius, and I enjoy fine-dining. I also quit drinking coffee 6yrs ago.

2 ) Tell us a bit about your artwork:

To sum up, I generally aspire to show people what the world looks like through my own eyes. I describe my artwork as clean, crisp, vibrant and emotionally compelling. For example, in the case of this image, I initially didn’t like the dull grey winter sky that day, so I changed some settings in the camera, pushed up the greens, increased contrast and came out with what you see. To me it doesn’t matter how you create the image. As long as an image can make you stop, pause for a moment, and think,  then that image has done its job and that’s what I try to achieve with my artwork.

3 ) What are your tools of the trade, including hardware and software:

I own a Canon G9, Canon 400D and a Canon 7D (Lenses, 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6, 50mm f/1.8, 10-22mm f.3.5, 24-105mm L f.4). I work on an Core 2 Duo, 4GB RAM HP 17inch still running MS Vista [that I'm just dying to replace]. I have a copy of Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects, Premeire and Maxon’s Cinema 4D. I also have various other software’s for speciality stuff. And of course countless Moleskine’s and a library of over 100 art & design books.

4 ) How long have you been an artist and what, if any, hurdles did you have to overcome in the process?

It all started really when I was 14 and I saw Nirvana’s Unplugged Album on MTV and I decided then to pick up the guitar and become a musician. And for 10yrs till I was about 24 my whole life was about music and album art and gig posters (regardless of the fact I was studying Business Management at University in Beirut). Then one day my friend convinced me to take a Photography elective during our last semester. I bought a dingy 2mp Samsung camera and started taking photo’s and I’ve been hooked ever since. One major hurdle I had to surpass was learning all about photography techniques and the visual arts on my own. From ’04 till ’08 I studied the technical elements through tutorials and books. I carried my camera everywhere I went and just clicked away. Since I was experimenting with various styles and techniques, it took me a while to figure out my own approach, and eventually living and studying in Vancouver gave me an inspiration and creativity boost.Though I think there will always be some kind of hurdle, being an artist is an on-going process that lasts your whole lifetime I believe.

5 ) Where do you find your creativity and inspiration?

Often-times I honestly just wait for it. Sometimes, I sit down with my sketch book, or I re-do an old tutorial in a different way. Other times, I start by trying to re-create something someone else already did, and see how can approach it differently. I do that because art needs to spark something in your brain, some pieces- for instance these “social” posters- came to me while sitting in a bus. If I shoot a portrait or landscape and don’t instantly see the final product in my head, I’d most probably delete it right there and take another one. And of course all my art & design books are everywhere around me.

6 ) Who are your favorite artists and why?

I’ve always been conflicted about this. I like artists that create extremely complex images. Artists that can take almost every kind of media and splash it all together to make something truly amazing, those kinds of images that every time you look at it you find something new. Then on the other hand, I also love and am inspired by those artists that can make something so compelling from the simplest of lines or maybe even the beautiful use of negative space. I’ve got all kinds of artworks in my home. Here’s a small list of favourite photographers (in no particular order) :

and some digital artists :

7- Norma Bar
8- Tarek Atrissi

7 ) Which piece of your art stands out as a favorite and why?

It would have to be this image. This is the first image I created that got me into this whole digital art field. Before this one, I was just taking photographs and  everything felt a bit restricted to me. When I decided to start collaging different images and textures, I created that. The landscape of Amman was from a previous photograph I took while working at my first job. There’s about 10 different layers in that image and when I saw what I could do, I just burst into it and kept going. For me, I don’t know when to stop most of the time. I always want to edit, change or fix something. Even now after 5yrs. I still look at it and think maybe if it’s a bit brighter, maybe I should increase the blue’s a little. it’s that kind of thinking that makes me a detail-oriented person and It’s this image that got me where I am today

8 ) Tell us about your artistic process from creation to completion:

Some images literally take 10min. and some take a few months. For example this image, my friend was sitting at my house and I was playing with the camera’s settings and as soon as I saw it in the review, downloaded it, opened Photoshop, added some Curves adjustments, typed in that quote that I had read earlier that week and voila. This image on the other hand started with just an image of the buildings, I wasn’t getting good feedback, it felt dull and bland. So I let it sit for a few days and I looked around me for inspiration. Eventually I decided to add some Gradient Layers, 2 Curves layers, added the caption. It was a clear sky that day so I placed a sky from another image I had and ended up with a much better result. Basically my process is customizable for almost every project.

9 ) If you could have your art displayed anywhere, where would it be and why?

I’d have it displayed at places like the MOMA or the Tate. Though realistically and more “I-want-to-encourage-the-industry” thinking, I’d have it displayed around the Middle-East region in Royal courts, offices, public buildings and so forth. The reason is because as much as photography has a stable foundation in the Arts around here, digital & visual arts does not, or is just barely starting to see the light of day. And I hope by spreading my work around and establishing exhibitions and galleries where more than one artist can come together to create some sort of platform where these artworks can be appreciated in this region would be more beneficial. Giving back to the community sort of thing.

10 ) If you could escape into any one fantasy world what would it be an why?

oh, hmm.. there are so many! Living in the playboy mansion would be nice.. lol Actually the one thing I hope to ‘escape’ to is not really a world or place but an actual lifestyle. To have enough money to just pick up my camera and back-pack and travel the whole planet. Going from one place to the next just snapping away. That would be awesome. I don’t want to just go places, I’d want to live in each area enough to know it and become it. That is my fantasy lifestyle.

11 ) Tell us about any upcoming projects you have planned:

Personally, I’m hoping to get into fashion photography working with magazine’s and in a studio environment. Second, I plan to dip my hands into HDR photography and maybe hopefully in a few years I’ll publish my first photography book. I also really want to get into filming music videos and doing mini-documentaries. On a professional level, I’ve started giving private Photoshop lessons and am currently working on exhibiting my work in a local gallery.

12 ) Where can people find you, website etc?

www.balaeddin.com … there you will find links to my WordPress, Behance, LinkedIn, Twitter, Flickr and to my Vimeo page.

13 ) Anything else you want people to know about you?

As much as I consider myself an artist, I’m also a designer. I’m obsessed with information graphics and good advertising. Typography and 3D are also on my list of obsessions. I just love it all really.. it’s the reason I get up in the morning. When you love what you do and have immense passion for it, it becomes your life from the moment you wake up till you sleep.

Thank You Challis for this interview.

No Bashar thank you!