“You have a limit for the number of pictures that you can contribute with, and so I only submitted two pictures: One of the group of men gathering and making the best of their time and the other was from my last visit to Yemen, and they chose the second,” said Balfaqih.
National Geographic’s process to enter the competition had the photographer send an e-mail with his or her pictures, then the National Geographic replied to the photographer with the acceptance or decline. “Eight months later, I was informed that my picture was one of the 15 people category finalists,” he added.
The finalist’s picture was taken in the qat market in Aden in early 2010. “I was on a trip to shoot 100 pictures of Aden and this was one of them,” said Balfaqih. “I see that this picture has a lot of humanity in it and when you look at it, it looks more like a painting of a social activity of people buying and selling qat,” he added.
Three months after the voting process started; Balfaqih did not win the contest. “It was enough for me to know that one of my pictures was chosen to be in an international contest where I get to compete with professional photographers from all over the world,” he said. “I’m very happy where I am now, at least people know my name and know my work globally,” he added.
