samak out of water

My Photo scholarship 2010 entry

Syria | Thursday, October 14, 2010 | 5 photos

I shoot this photographs in Syria, in the Jazira, a region scattered to the North-East close to the Iraqi border. I was staying for a certain period in a house near a small village. I saw the beduins the day they arrived and since then I keep observing them till they left. I was attracted by their habits and their daily life, by the division of the work and by the different roles played inside the community. My attention was mainly captured by the women, with their colorful dresses and extraordinary strength and vitality. Everyday I watched them. Early in the mornings and then again in the afternoon before sunset. Was only after two weeks that I decided to go there, introduce my self and finally meet them. And in that moment I discovered a new world. I love traveling and I love photography. I think through immages, that's what I do. It is the only way I know to describe what I see and what I feel. I'm not a photographer. I’m trying to become an archaeologist specialized in the Middle East, which is actually not an easy effort nowadays. I can say that I’m stuck between human studies and photography since a long time and I’ve spent last years trying to find a way to combine this two passions. The possibility to attend a school of photography crossed my mind several times but never materialized for many reasons. I think this scolarship could be a wonderful, I would rather say a dreamy, opportunity for me. I need a guide, I need to look at someone that can teach me how to fix into immages my purposes. I can’t think to a better way than follow a professional photographer on assignment through a completely unknown (at least for me) country. A new land to be discovered, loved and described.