Photography Now
- Aminath Shareehan Ibrahim , digital photo
Photography has been practiced in the Maldives for long. But mostly, the medium was primarily used for documentary purposes. Some of the earliest images of the Maldives (and Maldivians) are photographs taken by visiting officers of the colonial English government based in Sri Lanka. This dates back to the latter part of the 19th century and early 20th century. Beginning from mid 20th century, Maldivians also began taking photographs. One of the first and most well known Maldivian photographers is of course Mr. Ali Najeeb who also at point acted as the official photographer of the first President Mohamed Ameen. His apprentices ‘Baa’ and ‘Alifulhu’ are also still fondly remembered by several, especially the elite who lived on Male at the time.
Then came tourism and all of a sudden photographs of the Maldives seemed to be everywhere, published as easily available post-cards and posters and featured in books. These were mostly photos of Maldives and Maldivians taken by photographers on commission by tourist marketing agencies; perhaps Michael Friedel is the most famous, whose images of the Maldives are still ubiquitous amongst souvenirs and mementos of the country. With the easy availability if digital cameras a new generation of Maldivians have taken to the medium and have also moved away from the stereotyped depiction of the Maldives as ‘sun, sea and sand’, although this is a most convenient, tried and tested genre of photographing the country as it has a ready market among tourism marketers. But a more interesting development is that there are also now photographers who look for images that reveal more of the intricacies of the experience of actually living in the Maldives.
The image above and the following three are of photos taken by Aminath Shareehan Ibrahim who is known as ‘Bulha’ on her photo blog on flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bulhaa/ They caught my eye while surveying the work of contemporary photographers in the Maldives.
- Aminath Shareehan Ibrahim , digital photo
- Aminath Shareehan Ibrahim , digital photo
- Aminath Shareehan Ibrahim , digital photo