As a kid, I grew up painting and drawing on my room's plain white walls, wore
my Woody (Toy Story Film) outfit and acted the whole film to my parents and
family friends, played my short scale guitar as if I was Keith Richards (Rolling
Stones) in my room while I only knew one chord, and acted like an Opera
singer on my school lunch breaks in the middle of the school's playground.
Growing up I knew and always felt that art is what I wanted to do, but I did
not understand it totally since my mind wasn't mapped to look at education
paths and how they can help me achieve that.
Regardless I started being more serious about art, and what makes a human
artist. I started learning the Piano and did not play it as much because who
knows why. I then became more serious about Guitar and held the instrument
seriously, because it is one of the few instruments that can be held close to
one's body and soul, it is a very personal instrument, then I realized, Art
should be personal, I wanted to know how to make art personal, and I figured
art that can't be touched but touch, is the form to go for. I then started
learning my software, I self taught myself how to use Adobe Ps, Lr, Ai, and
other various software. I kept practicing for hours until they became second
nature, but I do not feel the proficiency in using software makes any
difference from an artistic point of view, Design is more about research,
ideation and brainstorming. At 16, I came back to live in my hometown of
Cairo, Egypt and I decided to study Film. As I learned how light, color, and
cutting affects a person's mood and feeling, I began to experiment with how
film can shape a viewer’s emotions, for example, making one feel something
like awe, or happiness, or maybe sadness. With film on my mind, I started
learning how to work with 35mm photographic film, which sparked a passion
for black and white documentary photography. I love nothing more than
going out on a dull day and shooting people with a Nikon or (preferably) a
Leica loaded with Kodak TRI-X or Ilford HP5. To me, what matters is that it's a
35mm lens on a portable camera with 400 speed film. It was this original film
format that allowed me extra ability to capture human emotion, and to
understand that a good picture can be made even with color and the latest
technology missing.
Although I was studying film, shooting loads of documentary photography
and totally loved it, I have been watching branding and what brands do with
their design, as worldwide superpowers and what products they offer, brands
like Apple, Coca-Cola and Adidas. Therefore the only logical move after
finishing Film School was learning what makes design the best thing human
can achieve. Design is the ultimate form of humanity, design is what makes
us human. We were built to Analyze, Troubleshoot, Research and Solve.