Directory

I was born and raised in Beirut and never wanted to be a photographer. Growing up in a war-torn country, photos often were — and still are — the only remnant of the many people who don’t exist anymore. These people unwittingly became mythical, for each photo of them hid fantastical stories that only the adults lived and told; it was magic.

But magic wears off with age, and a strictly scientific education, graduate degrees in Engineering and Business, and a corporate career wiped out most of what was left of it. It wasn’t until I hit my thirties that I realized how much I needed photography; both as a therapy tool and as a way to discover oddities within the mundane.

In 2013 a group of photographers from around the world, including me, started the Observe Collective. It was borne out of a ‘common fascination with watching and documenting the diverse humanity that surrounds us.’ Aside from this shared interest, I can’t but be extremely grateful to these now-14 talented individuals, for their support, friendship, and for shaping my photographic education.