Azzam Al Mannai, the photographer capturing the true essence of nature
How do we reconnect ourselves with the essence of nature? How do we celebrate its beauty in our daily life? These are the key messages behind the work of the Qatari photographer Azzam Al Mannai. His magnificent pictures of whale sharks and wildlife are renowned around the world.
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00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 Qatari wildlife photographer, Azam Al-Manai,
00:05 has won international acclaim for his ability
00:08 to capture the true essence of nature.
00:10 From Netflix to National Geographic,
00:14 his striking pictures have wowed audiences
00:17 all across the planet.
00:19 - I am Azam Al-Manai, artist,
00:22 adventurer, and a nature enthusiast.
00:24 - The self-taught aerial and underwater photographer
00:29 left a career in oil and gas to begin a one-man mission
00:33 to share the beauty and drama of nature through pictures.
00:37 (gentle music)
00:43 Azam, we're here on your boat,
00:55 preparing for the start of whale shark season.
00:58 You're about to get into the water.
01:00 How do you get comfortable being in there
01:03 with those giant creatures?
01:06 - Well, building the relation between me
01:08 and these giant creatures really comes on my top priority.
01:12 Well, the relationship is intimate.
01:14 It's more about creating the dialogue.
01:18 Yes, we don't speak the same language.
01:20 However, there's eye contact, there's a body language
01:23 that surrounds me and them all together
01:26 in order to blend and have this special moment.
01:30 This requires a lot of attempts.
01:33 You need to understand really the behavior.
01:35 I mean, social behavior of marine life or wildlife
01:38 are exactly like human beings.
01:41 Sometimes they can be in a good mood,
01:43 sometimes they are depressed,
01:44 sometimes they're having issues among each other.
01:48 So understanding who's who,
01:50 the hierarchy of each one in the family,
01:54 understanding the behavior at the moment,
01:56 being there, I think this is very essential
02:00 in order to have the perfect picture.
02:04 One of these magical moments I will never forget
02:07 when I was in Maldives,
02:08 I had a female pregnant tiger shark coming towards me
02:13 just face by face.
02:16 She passes like just an inch above my head.
02:20 Then where I felt the electrical field just hitting my body,
02:24 I realized, yes, they're surrounded by energy.
02:28 I felt really, really powerful at that moment.
02:32 - You've done lots of different things,
02:34 10, 15 years in the oil and gas sector.
02:37 You've created incredible endurance races,
02:41 coffee businesses, you've been the CEO
02:43 of a famous sports accelerator organization.
02:47 And then in just four short years,
02:50 you pick up a camera, you teach yourself how to use it,
02:53 and then you're featured in National Geographic or Netflix.
02:57 I mean, success has come pretty quickly.
03:00 - I would say passion and dedication
03:02 is the fast way to success.
03:04 I always believe that trail and error is the best school.
03:08 So grabbing the camera, going there,
03:11 having doing a lot of mistakes, trying to learn,
03:14 educate myself by reading,
03:17 watching a lot of YouTube videos
03:23 really helped me to improve my learning curve
03:26 in the last four years.
03:27 Had this pivotal moment in life
03:34 when I decided just to change my career.
03:36 So I decided to go to Iceland.
03:39 There were the first moment I really felt engaged
03:43 with the wildlife, with nature.
03:45 I just disconnected.
03:47 I mean, having the opportunity to watch
03:52 a rotted volcano, having the opportunity to watch
03:55 more than 10 waterfalls a day,
03:59 spending the nights under the stars in a tent.
04:02 I had the basic camera, started taking photos,
04:05 capturing the moments.
04:07 It really inspired me.
04:08 - Well, we've come to another location in Qatar
04:19 that you love.
04:21 The mangroves up here in the north of the country,
04:25 a place of pristine preservation.
04:28 Is it important to you, Azam,
04:30 to represent the natural beauty of Qatar in your work?
04:35 - From a photography perspective,
04:40 I come here, I enjoy aerial photography.
04:42 It gives me a different angle when I take the drone up
04:47 and take the lens.
04:48 It's more abstract.
04:50 So it shows us the beauty scene of the mangroves from above.
04:55 How does the water blends into the mangrove trees
05:01 and the nature life over here.
05:03 I consider myself ambassador of wildlife.
05:06 When I take the picture, I always try to ensure
05:08 that it has this sort of soul momentum in it,
05:12 not just a rigid or solid picture.
05:15 - Azam, I know you see your work very much as art.
05:19 Do you also see it as something that can inspire
05:22 a better connection between human beings
05:24 and nature in the future?
05:25 - I see my work really trying to communicate
05:29 with the audience, not only through the visualization,
05:33 but through the key messages, the words.
05:36 I mean, I feel really happy when I see someone
05:38 standing in front of a picture,
05:39 asking me a lot of questions.
05:43 And after this discussion, he goes
05:45 and he digs beneath the surface to find the answers
05:49 that have been in his mind because of this picture.
05:52 It's not about only the beauty.
05:55 It's about how to create an inspiration
05:59 for others to follow.
06:00 Sometimes it's great to take a break
06:10 and just go out there and rediscover.
06:13 We discover life, we discover ourself,
06:16 we discover the purpose.
06:18 Why are we here?
06:19 And these precious elements of feeling the ground,
06:23 the sand, listening to the, I would say,
06:27 wind blowing into the trees,
06:29 having a water cup from a river, fresh water,
06:35 sleeping in a tent under the stars.
06:38 These are really the essentials of life.
06:41 - When you started your career in photography,
06:45 wildlife was the focus.
06:48 Since then, you've captured some tough situations
06:51 in Lebanon.
06:53 You've worked with young people in Pakistan
06:57 as part of the Education Above All Foundation.
07:00 This shift then from wildlife more to people,
07:04 is this a trend that's gonna continue in your work?
07:07 What's next?
07:08 - With photography, the more you know,
07:11 the more you want to know.
07:12 Every door you open, it opens 10 doors.
07:15 Recently, I've been taking photos of people
07:19 and I'm really loving it.
07:21 And there is many to be explored.
07:23 I believe, I mean, it is my social responsibility
07:26 to highlight these cases,
07:31 to show them, to share them with the world.
07:33 On the list, I've got the snow leopard in Ladakh,
07:37 north of India, got the puma in Patagonia,
07:42 more humbucks in Tonga,
07:44 and there's plenty of places to be discovered.
07:48 - Lots more exciting places to be discovered.
07:50 Azam, thanks so much for inviting the dialogue
07:53 into your world.
07:54 - Thank you.
07:55 (upbeat music)
07:57 (gentle music)