Take a Look Inside Abdulla Elmaz’s World of Emotional Imagery

Artist:
Abdulla Elmaz
Photography:
Abdulla Elmaz
Words:
Caroline Meeusen

Dubai-based fashion photographer and art director Abdulla Elmaz captures raw emotion in everything he creates. Heartbreak, loneliness, confusion, hope—Elmaz lays it all in his photography, capturing intriguing looks and visions in every theme he explores. Seeing the world through his lens is to discover a surreal world that encourages passionate conversation in the pursuit of meaning. The photographer shared with us his words of wisdom to aspiring artists and why he thinks his work leaves such an impact on people.

VISUAL PLEASURE Magazine: Did you always want to be an artist?

Abdulla Elmaz: Growing up, I knew I wanted to pursue photography, but I never saw it as being an artist. As I started to develop my style, I soon realized that to take photos is an art itself. Now, I draw all my images before I shoot them because I want to be able to envision it and make it the best form of art possible. That’s when I realized I’m an artist before a photographer.

How did your story as a photographer begin?

First, I studied architecture for one year. I didn’t like it so I left and studied advertising for two years, then I left that too and took a break. I learned a lot from both studies, we had a visual thinking class while I was studying architecture where we had to close our eyes and meditate and visualize our happy place, and in doing that we would also draw shapes in our minds, then get out of the meditation and have to go draw what we saw. I applied that to my photography the last two years, I will listen to music and visualize what I see. I started in 2013 doing photography as a profession. I was in a photography duo for 5 years then we split the business and went our own ways. When I looked at the images I shot on my own, they were just so different to anything I had created before. As time went by, I started to create this style so naturally for myself, I experimented and just kept going and now here I am.

How do you make your pictures so powerful and mesmerizing?

I never think my photos are powerful or mesmerizing, it’s just what I get told by others. To me, they’re just a part of my feelings and emotions, it’s a way of showing a part of me to the world. I just think a lot about what I want to show to the world and how I can do that in a lighter and happier way.

What do you want to achieve or portray with your photos?

I want people to just be able to feel something inside. I want my photos to not just be a double tap on Instagram. I want them to grab viewer’s attention and make them stop and look and have a second look. That to me is a lot in itself, I want to be able to inspire people.

Why mainly people? Have you ever wanted to photograph something else?

I have photographed animals (taxidermy) and that’s about it. I love photographing people, it’s my own untold story and it’s my way of showing it through living beings. I used to post a lot of photos of the moon, to me the moon is such an interesting object in the universe. It’s the only thing in this universe that is a reflection of natural light apart from the sun. I love photographing things that mean something to me.

What does art mean to you?

As I grew, I realized art is everything. It’s all around us, and it’s the driving force for me. Anyone can take a photo on any camera and call themselves a photographer, but how many people look at their work and look and keep scrolling? Yet people see art and they stop, look, and feel something inside. Art is a feeling of emotions, shown in its most original form.

If you could choose anyone in the world (dead or alive), who would you love to capture through your lens?

Hands down, Lana Del Rey, she’s everything I stand for when it comes to timelessness. She has a timeless look, her music has a timeless feel. I listen to certain songs of her when I’m about to shoot to get me into the zone.

What advice would you give an aspiring artist?

Don’t give up, keep going. If you feel like you’re doing the wrong thing, you probably are, but give it time, and it will all make sense in the end. Time is your best friend right now and in time, people will see your work when it’s meant to be.