1.Your name and what do you do?
My names are Abdallah Hassan and am a photographer
2.Who inspires your photography?
Who inspires me? The first photographer I ever remember being inspired by was bobby pal. I still love his work so much.
Karl Taylor, Serge Remelli, bobby pal are a few first for me as well. I was really first drawn to people documenting life and taking honest portraits. Later when I started photography classes I met and took classes with Rahim Mansur Kara and he was a huge inspiration to me as well.
3.What kind of tools do you use for post processing? Explain your work flow.
I use lightoom 5 for most of the editing and adobe photoshop cs5 for retouch. This is how it goes…after importing images in lightroom I have created presets that easen my workflow so I don’t have to cram the exact settings its like copying and pasting editing settings and if am not satisfied then the image is imported to photoshop for retouching and blending.
4.In Mombasa, photography is not well received as Nairobi, what could be the reason?
Mombasa being an Islamic majority state, the prohibition to represent animals and human beings is widely accepted scholars have resented photographic portraits because they feared image worship especially when the picture is hanged on the wall, this norm has been passed down generations thus photography is not popular among this young generation and the few who break this norm and take up photography get little appreciation from others.
5.Name your top three photographers that inspire you.
• Serge remelli
• Karl tylor
• Craig howels
6.Among the gadgets that you own, is there something that you wish you hadn’t bought? Why?
canon 18-135mm lense. I bought this lense from a photographer who claimed it was new. Yes it looked new but I have only used it for 8months now and its not working anymore. What a crap.
7.What is the one thing you wish you knew when you started taking photos?
I wish I knew how to composite images. Although no one can immediately learn how make good composition it takes time and a lot of research you have to watch other photographers work.
8.If you had a chance to start a photography school in Mombasa, what location would you choose?
Old town. Since there is a lot to take pictures and explore and most international photographers come to visit the old town I think they will be much accessible to mentor the students I think this is the best place to start a photography school.
9.Share with us your best picture
This is my best friend fabbio with his kid having fun at the beach
10.Parting shot
This is to other photographers
I think you should shoot what makes you happy, not what you think others want to see. People can see through that.
