For Tarik Al Abdullah, photography is an art

“I love photography because it is an art” says Tarik Al Abdullah, a young Saudi photographer. Photography nowadays is largely recognized as a fine art, but this was not always the case. During the early days of photography some people considered drawing and painting superior visual arts. They also believed that photography required no creativity or imagination because the photographic subject was “ready made”.
As Tarik Al Abdullah remarks, “A camera remains a lifeless object until a person uses it so it becomes an extension of the photographer’s eye and mind”.
A fully automatic camera can produce a correctly exposed and sharp negative, but it cannot distinguish between a banal snapshot and a well-composed picture. The ability to make such a distinction rests solely with the person behind the camera.
The creative photographer perceives the essential qualities of the subject and interprets it according to his judgment, taste and involvement. The mechanical photographer merely reproduces what he sees. The photographer’s eye remains all-important. No matter how sophisticated the camera is, it is the photographer who must choose what to photograph and when to expose the film.
Tarik Al Abdullah did not intend at first to become a professional photographer. He took up photography merely as a hobby and later decided to study its basics abroad. Upon his return to Saudi Arabia, he became increasingly involved in organizing photography workshops and exhibitions.
Al Abdullah is fascinated by daily life. He likes to photograph people at work, in their homes, in the streets, in their cars, sitting in cafes. His growing passion for photography finally persuaded him to become a professional photographer.
“Fifteen years ago, Saudi’s knowledge of art was limited. Nowadays, photography is appreciated. Cameras are available to everyone and social media outlets have played a great role in enhancing the Saudi youth’s awareness for art and particularly photography,” says Al Abdullah.
A quick glance at Al Abdullah’s work denotes his sense of artistry and polyvalence. He not only takes portraits but also specializes in still life and photojournalism. The very power of his portraits can only be explained by the intensity of his vision. When he photographs people he aims to record their inner greatness as well as their physical features.
His still life photographs reflect his desire to record life. He photographs with an equal gusto the architectural details of a roof, a collection of colorful lamps or a solitary desert tree, which looks like an ostrich rooted in the sand. Other photographs reveal his sense of humor. One picture shows a man dressed in the same fabric covering the sofa he is sitting on. This creates the eerie feeling that a man is being swallowed by a carnivorous sofa. In another photograph, two young men are resting their backs on cushions covered in the same material as the shirts they are wearing. Looking closely at this picture creates the goofy impression that cushions have human heads.
Al Abdullah’s work reminds me of the American photographer Edward Weston who strove hard to render the very substance and quintessence of the thing itself. Al Abdullah believes in straight photography and shares with us his fascination for the beauty of everyday things. Some of his photographs reveal a thorough understanding of design, composition as well as a highly developed sense of linear form and stark realism stressing materials.
As a photojournalist, Al Abdullah also reveals his ability to train himself to perceive the significant in the fraction of a second and to use his camera with such speed and precision that the instantaneous perception is preserved forever in the form of a photo. Nurtured by the love of his family, close friends and art lovers, this talented and charismatic artist uses photography as a powerful mode of visual and emotional expression that touches all the aspects of life in the Kingdom.
Al Abdullah sees himself as a dreamer who aims high. “I am a star watcher too,” he says. Indeed the world of photography is a world of light and taking a photograph literally means “drawing with light.”

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