Photobook Egypt is a powerful series of photography books; each dedicated to a theme or a project photographed and narrated by remarkable Egyptian and regional photographers (whether emerging or established) and curated and published by Photopia Cairo. Our dream is to offer a non-digital platform to document extraordinary photography work and make it accessible and affordable to photography enthusiasts & collectors. It is an ongoing project of enjoyable and visually rich photography that proudly represents Egypt's and the region's prominent photographers. Collecting them would be like owning a small part of Egypt on your bookshelf..
The photobook culture in Egypt is an underrated. In light of the powerful photography work coming out of Egypt and the region, Photopia team considered curating and publishing such work and offer it to photography enthusiasts in Egypt & the world.
Nine photographers, nine beautiful stories published by Photobook Egypt.
فوتوبوك إيجيبت هي سلسلة من الكتب المصورةّ المؤثرة، كل منها تختص بمشروع أو موضوع وثائقي معين من تصوير مصور متميز سواءً كان محترف أو ناشئ. هدفنا هو توثيق تلك القصص و نشرها على منصة غير رقمية و إتاحتها لكل المهتمين بالتصوير الفوتوجرافي في مصر و خارجها. إنها سلسلة كتب مصورة رائعة و تعكس قوة مصوري المنطقة و قدرتهم على سرد الوقائع و الآمال من خلال عدستهم. إقتناءها .يعد إقتناء قطعة من مصر في مكتبتك
VOLUME I
First Published December 2016
ABOUT THE PHOTOGRAPHERS
Mahmoud Khaled
Photographer of "Stations"
He was born in 1988. He started learning photography in April 2010 and has since worked for various Egyptian newspapers. He also worked as a stringer for Agence France-Presse. His main focus is news and street photography.
Mahmoud's work has earned him many several national & international awards, including the Egyptian Journalists Syndicate, National Geographic Magazine (Egypt) 2012 on Egyptian Revolution Award and Sharjah Prize for Photography Press Photo Department.
Hadeer Mahmoud
Photographer of "Metro"
She is a 25 - year-old photojournalist and documentary photographer. She joined "El-Tahrir" newspaper in June 2011 as a professional photographer. In March 2013 she has joined "El-Watan" newspaper. During these years she has covered many important events that Egypt has been through since Jan 25 revolution. Hadeer turned into an iconic mobile photographer documenting her daily journeys inside Cairo. She is also a contributor to @everydayegypt.
Karim El Hayawan
Photographer of "Forgotten Rooms"
Born and raised in Cairo, Karim is a street photographer and interior architect. After learning the technical fundamentals from a longtime Reuters hand, Alaa Abdel Naby, Karim found his passion in street photography. Cairo wanderings are his prime visual interest and vocabulary, exploring the city's busy multi-layered cultural skin from its recognized gems to its abandoned architectural marvels, recording people who
represent the genuine essence of what the city has to offer.
Karim's photos were exhibited at "The Grid Cape Town Biennial in South Africa", - Off Biennale Cairo "Something Else" - The Benchmark forum in GUST Kuwait, Al-Ahram's Salon for Fine Arts and Darb1718 in Cairo as well as CNN's connect the world and
various local and international publications.
Karim is also the Co-Founder and Principle Interior Architect of Design Point Studio based in Cairo. Specialized in high-end residential, retail and resort projects with a range of 40 projects to date, including 7 hotels in the resort area of Sharm El Sheikh - Red Sea. Design Point Studio has a permanent team of professionals consisting of 15 architects and designers collaborating with teams all over the world.
Mosa'ab Elshamy
Photographer of "Madad"
Born in 1990, Mosa'ab is a Cairo-based photographer at the Associated Press, who covers daily news stories, as well as in-depth cultural and social documentary projects across the Middle East. His work has been described as dedicated, humane and intimate.
When the Egyptians rose up against Hosni Mubarak in 2011, photography was still a hobby for Mosa'ab, who was studying for his Bachelor degree in Pharmacy. But the uprising triggered
a shift in focus, and he switched to photojournalism and documentary photography; this time
as a career. Since then, his extensive coverage of the Egyptian revolution and its consequences has gained him a wide exposure, providing images and stories to TIME Magazine, Paris Match, The New York Times, The Rolling Stone and Aljazeera English.
In 2013, TIME picked one of his photographs from the violence in Rabaa, Egypt, among its best 10 photos of the year. He won an Award of Excellence from Pictures of the Year International competition for the same image. He was then selected by PDN among its 30 Emerging
Photographers in 2014, as well as one of the Guardian's Top 10 Youth in Digital Media for his use of social media to bring focus to his work and the country's tumultuous events. In 2014, he won The Bob's award that recognized his work from the streets of Cairo.
Heba Khalifa
Photographer of "Homemade"
She is a photojournalist at El Shorouk newspaper. Born and based in Cairo, Egypt, in 1977, Heba Khalifa is a painter who works with different media, combining mainly photography, prints and painting. She graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts in Cairo in 2000 with a diploma in interior design. After that, she studied art criticism for 2 years at the Arts Academy of Cairo. She has held two solo exhibitions in Cairo: "One Step" in 2001, "Temporary Absence" in 2006 and several group exhibitions. Heba has worked with children in difficult circumstances such as street children and working children before becoming a photojournalist and has used art to educate them and help them since 2001. In 2007, she has obtained a scholarship to study graphic art in Salzburg Summer Academy.
VOLUME II
First Published May 2017
ABOUT THE PHOTOGRAPHERS
Mohamed Ali Eddin
Photographer of "Tales of the White Mountain"
Mohamed Ali Eddin is a freelance photojournalist who focuses on documenting the change in the Egyptian society, human rights and workers' rights. Most of his photo stories reflect the life outside Cairo, where people suffer from lack of public service and media coverage.
He attended visual storytelling workshops with Noor images, Al-liquindoi Workshops and World Press Photo, then won the WPPH grant for 'Reporting change' in 2013. Tales of the White Mountain won Manuel Riveras Ortiz Foundation grant in 2014 and the photographs were exhibited in Arles, France. The story was published in National Geographic and Washington Post.
Starting his career as a reporter, Mohamed was passionate about finding interesting stories that touched readers. He soon noticed that even good writing went unread without photographs to help tell the story visually. That realization led him to focus more on photojournalism and how a photographer can tell the whole story without words.
Yehia A. El Alaily
Photographer of "Kitchen Memoirs"
Yehia A. El Alaily (b. 1972 - Uk) is a freelance food & travel photographer working closely with both local & international clients _ such as, Four seasons Hotels, Nestle, Americana, Hardees Arabia, Starwood Hotels, Emaar, Johns Hopkins University Press & El Beit Magazine.
Nour El Refai
Author of "The Nubians: A Displaced Dynasty"
Nour El Refai (b. 1983 - Cairo, Egypt). A self-taught photographer, Nour obtained a degree in Architecture at Cairo University and has been working as an Architecture photographer since 2005.
He has covered documentary stories and assignments in Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, India, and Turkey. His work has been published in the Financial Times, The Huffington Post and many more. He taught architecture photography at various Egyptian universities and continues to teach workshops in his Studio.
Asmaa Gamal
Author of "The Seven Seeds"
Born in 1991, Asmaa Gamal is a "One Woman Crew" photojournalist for Daily News Egypt and a member of the @everydaycairo Instagram account. She studied media with a focus on radio and television and graduated in 2012; she is currently completing a master's degree in drama. She has worked for several print and television outlets, and her photographs have been used by international agencies such as Reuters and the Italian Noor news agency.