If you are a 'Ammani, and keeping track of the alternative music scene, you've definitely seen Hiba Judeh's work. Her photo shoots for bands like Jadal, Akher Zapheer and Aziz Maraka's Razz are fittingly quirky and off-centre. I met up with the person behind the lens herself, to see what thoughts and non-commissioned photography works she had to share.
Driving amongst cars erratically weaving their paths, I'm searching amidst the visual clutter for the agreed-upon meeting spot.
This is Medina Street, Amman: where global culture unabashedly displays itself in colours that dazzle, scream and distract. No wonder the cars are weaving in and out of lanes as though they were driven by drunks.
I eventually find and enter our chosen coffee-shop, and as I sit and wait for a few minutes until Ms Judeh arrives, I ponder a time where we can barely focus on one topic, or one lane, because we are being distracted by some form of media vying for our attention. When I finally get to meet her, I think to myself: it is refreshing to meet a person like photographer Hiba Judeh in this age. Her stories are intense recollections of singular moments. She brings one moment into focus at a time. In an impressionistic string of phrases, she sets a scene and shows you what she sees.
Of her beginnings in photography, she says she was sitting in another coffee-shop "one day five years ago and I started to play eye games." She blocked out the surrounding ambience and started shifting the depth of field (the region where objects seem to be in focus) with her eyes, first targeting a glass, then objects beyond it, and observing how sharpness gradually shifted from one object to another. Isolated from the world by her own will at that moment, she thought to herself: "Why not frame this moment? Why not get a camera?"
Her humble start in snapping pictures with a Sony CyberShot 4.1 Megapixel framed many moments, but dissatisfaction drove her to seek an instrument more suited for reliably capturing what her eye could see. A Canon EOS 5D is her current companion. And she winces when I mention tripods... "I don't like them but I need them because I love unconventional angles...also, for slower shutter speeds."
We are silent for a while, and my thoughts wander back to what I was bothered about pre-interview: how nowadays we are bombarded with commercial images that are set up to stimulate our urge to buy things.
Ever since it started liberalizing its economy in the mid-90's, Jordan's cityscapes have become increasingly visually polluted with invasive advertising (there are even monitors in restaurant WC's playing videos!) and bad signage, all of which are a front for products or services that are not necessarily as perfect as rendered. In contrast, her imagery is innocent of cosmetic concern and recalls a simpler time, when scenery could be enjoyed as a cohesive whole. I mention to her that it is somewhat paradoxical that she is using an imported, complicated and technologically advanced piece of equipment (a digital SLR) to capture the essence of simple, natural moments. She laughs at this. "I hate technology but I'm using it in a positive way...to highlight what people might not pay attention to"
"In this day and age where technology is alienating us from the things that matter; what with all the commercial music satellite TV channels popping up?" I interrupt, questioningly. She nods and adds, "Plus it's more convenient to process things digitally. Everything's so fast these days." She rushes to add, "But there's this thing about me- I'm so connected to nature. I love the soil, the earth & the trees."
True enough to her earthy tendency, she prefers spontaneous shots to composed images. She also favours the warm light of "dawn and 30 minutes before the sunset because of the reddish light reflecting off of everything."
Of her favourite subject matter she says: "I love portraits because of..." she pauses for effect to bring focus in on the next word "...diversity." Then she lifts her hands to her own face and gesticulates... "The eyes, the features...the wrinkles." She goes on to explain that she sees a different impression of life on each face with each wrinkle and fold. That is why she loves looking for flawed faces with character rather than the conventionally-agreed-upon pretty faces. Diversity.
Whereas most of her work is oriented towards cultural and social issues (music groups and the homeless of downtown Amman, for example), she admires the work of James Nachtwey: a photographer who has devoted himself to documenting war and conflict. So what conflict is there in Hiba's life?
Perhaps there is the battle of spontaneity versus planned composition; with the more playful one as the winner in Hiba's eye. She says that she waits for a moment to happen to capture it and never plans ahead unless it is for a commissioned project, of course. Also, she has a strong aversion to editing photographs except for colour correction, saturation and contrast. No wonder she does not like the Surrealists: she does not delve into compositing images, but rather likes them to be as raw as possible, whether they are solemn portraits or scenes of motion photography dynamism.
"I love 'The Violinist' because I never saw it coming, I never expected to take a shot like that, and now it's one of my favourites."
What lies in the future for this young girl with an old soul? She is planning a "stunning" (as she describes it) exhibition of her work, which will include photos and video installation in a so-far-unopened venue which she privately disclosed to me. The theme is the narrative of her life story- in a sequence of unconventional images. That is to say: they won't be your typical first-step-through-graduation-dinner photos.
Currently, she is freelancing for JO magazine as a photographer and completing her second degree (the completed one being in Graphic Design) in Film-making at the School of Audio Engineering, Amman...and framing the moments she is experiencing.
