As for Oday Abid, he uses his camera to take photographs of people in need in Jeddah so that the public can know of their situation and in turn lend a helping hand.

Abid is a 25-year-old corporate communications and reputation manager at Procter & Gamble and a freelance photographer. He started taking pictures during his last year of college where he majored in information technology at George Mason University in Washington DC.

“At first, it was amateur photography as I used a small camera to take random pictures here and there. In my last semester in 2007, however, I took an extensive photography course at the university. When I came back to Saudi Arabia, I started doing freelance photography with my personal network and then it started to expand as I got hired by individuals who heard about me or saw my photos,” he said.

Abid is part of a Jeddah-based voluntary group called Young Initiative Group (YIG) whose main goal is to help people in need live in a decent status through personal support.

“My main role in the group is to take pictures of the unfortunate people living in Jeddah and to show how this group is helping them. Hopefully, this will raise awareness and inspire others to do the same,” he said.

In the beginning of his project, Abid was only taking pictures to document the achievements of the group, but later on his pictures were posted everywhere. “YIG later used my photos on their website, on Youtube and on many other websites to show people how the group operates and what their aims are,” he added.

YIG reaches people through different methods such as newsletters, Youtube videos and social networking websites to show updated news and photographs. “Our goal at the end of the day is to reach as many people who can assist us in helping others,” said Abid.

However, taking photographs in public is easier said than done due to the cultural restrictions in the Kingdom. “We live in a closed society and whenever I try to take out my camera, people start eying me even if I’m not pointing at them,” he explained.

Some of the people he takes pictures of are hesitant about being photographed. “I always explain to them that taking their picture is going to help them tell their story and that I’m not doing it to humiliate them, but rather to help spread the message,” he said.

Photography is a way where Abid can express himself and his emotions. It is also a way of communication and interaction. “Personally, I’m a visual person. I work better with pictures because they can say so much about the photographer, such as his ideas and what he is thinking of at that moment. Photography is powerful because it captures the moments that can live with you forever,” he added.

According to Abid, photography is a skill and a medium of communication as it gives you the ability to portray valid facts with detailed information. “Photography and other types of visual art narrate a story. At the same time, it gives a massive space for imagination. A person can look into a picture and generate a story from it. For example, a picture showing an old man baking bread immediately implies that he has been doing this for a long time,” he explained.

He loves taking outdoor environmental photographs, which reflect the weather and sunlight. “I like to take photos of people in their normal atmosphere and not in closed studios with artificial lighting and surroundings,” he said. “A lot of my pictures are spontaneous, natural and candid, so you don’t see people posing. It’s very real and outspoken because I intend to make them speak for themselves.”

Abid uses his camera to deliver a message to Saudi society of what is happening in Jeddah's beleaguered inner city. “Many people from my society have not yet visited south Jeddah and its poor neighborhoods. I myself did not visit it before I joined the voluntary group I’m with at the moment. I purposely take photos of those old, poor and dirty neighborhoods to show how people are suffering from the garbage lying in front of their houses. I also take photos of the volunteers’ work to motivate people to join them and make a change,” he explained.

Abid plans on enrolling in an extensive filmmaking workshop as his next step is making films. “If a photo is worth a thousand words, then a film is worth a million words. That’s why I want to get into filmmaking and progress my knowledge in photography and cameras after joining a well-known international film school,” he said.