In The Viewfinder is a new series that allows you to learn a bit more about your favorite FYP Writers. While we know your enjoy their articles, sometimes you just want to know what makes them tick! We are pleased to provide that insight for you.
Ameena comes from a small town just on the outside of London, United Kingdom. She will be 21 years old this September, and will have been with FYP for two years and a few months by that time. She currently lives in Bristol, in the south west, where she is in her first year of studying photography at university.
Ameena is a prolific writer and has published numerous articles about different techniques and genres in photography at FYP, but at the moment she is responsible for the ‘Weekend Photo Focus’Â and ‘Weekend Photo Find’ which are published every Friday and Monday. She also publishes a monthly interview with notable professional photographers, which goes live on the 30th of every month (look out for this months featured photographer).
Her style is still in its developmental stages, and therefore very experimental. Portraiture is her strongest area, as well as conceptual photography, which is mainly due to her participation in the 365 project (in which she attempted to take a self-portrait everyday for a year). As well as that, she has a great love for creating surreal and dream-like images, especially as sometimes she gains inspiration from her dreams which can be very vivid.
As well as portraiture, she loves to photograph landscapes and different cultures, this stems from having relatives all over the world and being quite well-traveled as a child because of it. One day, when she can afford it, her dream is to go traveling and discover all the hidden gems of the world, just to take photographs. Ameena also has a growing collection of film cameras, and loves to expose roll upon roll of black and white film.
Recently, Ameena upgraded her dSLR from a Nikon D60 which was cherished and loved for many years, to a Nikon D7000 which was bought because of its greater range of features but also because of its ability to shoot video, which Ameena hopes to experiment with in the near future. Her favourite lens is also a recent purchase, a 50mm F1.8 lens, which she fell in love with as soon as it was affixed to her camera. Ameena loves to use it for her portraiture photography, and self-portrait series as it provides gorgeous depth-of-focus, she is rapidly developing an affection for prime lenses. It was also the perfect lens for a recent series she did based on the cinematic style for a university project, which she also did an article on.
Ameena was introduced to photography in an unusual way; before she was given a digital camera for her 14th birthday, photography as an art had never crossed her mind. She took her new camera with her to local gigs that she attended fortnightly with her friends, and started taking photographs of the bands that played. Eventually, she was asked to take photographs for the company that held the gigs, so that they could show them on their website. She did this for about three years, and during those years her skill in using a camera developed, and her interest became a full-blown love affair with photography, which to this day has not dwindled, nor does she expect it to.
As mentioned before, Ameena is in her first year, studying photography at university, and intends to become a famous and perhaps rich photographer one day, photographing for the likes of Vogue and I-D magazine. Writing for FYP has given her the technical skill and desire to become part-journalist and to also has allowed her to pick up a variety of other skills to add to her collection and therefore up her value as a creative. When she started university, Ameena decided to take it a step further by seeking clients and hopefully have the chance to work with real models and establish her name in the industry. Yes, it is a slow process, but everyone has to start somewhere, fortunately for Ameena it is paying off slowly because in December 2011 she did her first ever fashion shoot in which she shot some brilliant photographs, and had a great experience at the same time.
You can view Ameena’s most recent work on her Flickr and Facebook page, and her portfolio here. She may also be contacted by email to a.rojee@hotmail.co.uk.
