Dubai-based Photographer Amer Mohamad on Building A Visual Identity, Overcoming Challenges and What’s In Store For The Future…
Amer Mohamad has shot over 90 magazine covers, including seven for Harper’s Bazaar Arabia. His razor-sharp, colorful, and glamorous style has captivated luxury brands and top editors from Russia to the Middle East…
Growing up in Syria, Amer Mohamad’s exposure to fashion was limited to what he saw on TV and in movies, but still, his interest was piqued at a young age. When he got his first computer, he recalls spending hours scrolling on Tumblr: “I would print fashion images and tape them to my wall.” Little did he know, he was organically creating a rudimentary iteration of a vision board.
Amer’s own first brush with photography was in the 6th grade when his father gave him a disposable camera: “I was changing schools and he gave it to me to take pictures of my friends on the last day. He said to me, “Let’s just see how they turn out.’”
Amer is the product of a true global upbringing. He speaks Russian, Arabic and English fluently and has lived in three countries to date. Although he was born in Syria, he says that the time he spent in Moscow studying architecture at both undergraduate and graduate levels had an enduring impact on him. “Russia is where my parents met and were married. I left Syria very young – knowing who I am, what I like and what I want to do got shaped fully in Russia. That time in my life had a big influence on me. If I hadn’t moved to Russia, I wouldn’t be here right now. It formed my visual identity.”
It wasn’t until he began living in a university dorm alongside girls working as models that he seriously contemplated becoming a fashion photographer. “I remember there was specifically one girl who was flown in from Kenya to walk for Tom Ford – she inspired me to believe that I can be in this industry.”
He began working as a photographer while still in school and quickly gained traction. Before long, Amer was shooting for the likes of Harper’s Bazaar Serbia, Harper’s Bazaar Vietnam, Grazia Bulgaria, and Elle Russia among several other avant-garde publications.
In 2022, when Russia declared war against Ukraine, Amer was determined not to let any obstacles hinder his momentum and cast his sights elsewhere. He moved to Dubai in the spring of that year. Though the UAE was unknown territory for him, he was equipped with an already-impressive portfolio, which included a number of cover shoots. Only three months after arriving in Dubai, Amer shot the cover of Harper’s Bazaar Saudi, which was closely followed by him being tapped to shoot the prestigious September cover for Harper’s Bazaar Arabia. “Shooting that September cover of Tara Emad with Nour Bou Ezz (Bazaar Arabia’s Senior Fashion Editor) was huge for me. It made a lot of noise. It was the moment I felt that I really broke into the Arab fashion industry here. It helped me become who I am as a photographer in the region.”
As business-savvy as he is creative, Amer understood early in his career the importance of having a clear identity as a fashion photographer – particularly in a saturated industry such as this one. “I turn down a lot of projects that don’t fit my aesthetic because I always want to give it my best and I know that there are some styles that I just can’t feel or sense.”
Amer attributes his intuition, with regard to achieving balance and capturing perspective, to his architecture training. He has an almost methodical understanding of the ways in which the two elements come together to create a visually appealing image. “I put a lot into post-production, but I don’t like changing somebody’s nose, chin or jawline. I keep the person as they are, but because I’m very detail-oriented, I’ll enhance the nails, the eyes or the hair so as to balance out the image and give it a certain depth and scale.” He’s crystallised an aesthetic defined by crisp, clean lines with a distinctive focus on bright, vibrant colours.
Being a fashion photographer today comes with a set of unique challenges. There are an increasing number of stakeholders involved in the production of a commercially viable – yet thought-provoking and original – image. As Amer sees it, “My role is to transfer my client’s request into my own vision while also pushing the client’s vision out of the box a bit.”
Not only is the definition of fashion photography constantly in flux, but it’s also evolving on a technological level as a result of AI. Having lensed Bazaar Arabia’s digital fashion shoot published in the magazine’s Future Issue, it’s no surprise that Amer is in favour of embracing the possibilities of this new frontier of image-making.
“For me, it’s very exciting and I’m not intimidated by it. It’s limitless. It’s an excellent resource for shoots because sometimes you don’t have the budget for a location. It can really help to bring a vision to life. I personally like to experiment with it. I think there is space for AI and photography to mix.” While he sees a space for AI, he acknowledges that machine rendering can only go so far: “There will always be a need to photograph physical products and real faces.”
Amer has shot covers for a number of different Harper’s Bazaar Arabia, Harper’s Bazaar Saudi and Harper’s Bazaar Qatar issues in just the past two years
Images from Harper’s Bazaar December 2023 issue