Interview with Samsul Alam Al-Majidi

Get to know the Kolla photographers
Posted on 21/09/2021

This week we bring you yet another interview with one of our photographer. We have talked with Samsul Alam Al-Majidi.

Samsul's photos often depict impressive landscapes of all kinds in rich and deep colors. In this interview Samsul tells us all about the influences he got from the colorful and vibrant street culture of his hometown of Dhaka, his spontaneous move to Stockholm completely without a plan, and the story of how he first got into photography and all the best tips he got from his mentor.

From?

Dhaka in Bangladesh. I moved to Sweden in August 2017. Right now I split my time between Sweden and Germany though, since my girlfriend lives there, close to Hannover. We visit each other back and forth.

How come you moved to Stockholm?

I always knew I wanted to study abroad, and I had talked with a friend of mine for a long time about studying abroad together. We looked at a lot of different countries, and one of them was Sweden, since my cousin already lived here. Then my friend moved here to study at Jönköping University, and I followed the year after to start my Master’s program. However, later I realized the city of Jönköping, and that program did not really suit me, so dropped out of the program, and I decided to move to Stockholm instead, with no plan. I stayed with a friend for a month, and then I got a place, and then I got a job, which is where I then met my girlfriend, because she was doing her internship there, so it all worked out really well, luckily!

What do you do when you're not photographing?

I am still working at the same place where I started when I first came to Stockholm; I work with inventory at a hotel. And since my job has really good work hours, it has given me some time to focus even more on photography and I have been able to go travel as well.

 

How did you first get into photography?

When I was in secondary education back in Bangladesh, my main hobby was working out. When I started university, however, I started getting interested in pictures, and on Instagram, I would see so many people posting really nice pictures, though I never thought to myself at the time that I would start doing photography as well. But then I underwent some health problems, and my doctor told me I could not push myself too hard when working out. I had been trying up until then to work out really intensely, but then I had to give that up, which felt a bit sad. But I thought to myself that I have to find something else to occupy myself with then, because I did not want to just stay at home and do nothing. I had a friend, Shahidullah, who was into photography. And I had started thinking about maybe buying a camera and try taking some pictures, and my mom was really enthusiastic about the idea, because she wanted to have her picture taken, haha. Then, since my mom was supportive, and also being inspired by my friend, I finally decided to get a camera, and I started go out and taking pictured. Shahidullah showed me all the basic stuff, and since then I have just kept going out and kept taking pictures.

Also, I think I would not have been a photographer if I had not grown up in Bangladesh. The culture there is so vibrant and you get to see so many things happening, you would never get bored taking pictures there, there is always something happening, merchants and markets, people in extremely colorful clothes and women in saris. There is an old saying, that, “If you go to India (or that region of Asia), you will see half of the world.” That is because they have all different kinds of climates, everything from tropical to cold snow-covered mountains, the desert, everything. And also there are such a mix of cultures, with so many different languages and traditions. I think Dhaka city, having this mix of cultures, and a rich, vibrant street life really kicked off my photographic career.

Which is your go-to camera?

The first camera I got was a Nikon D7200, with the Sigma 17-50mm lens, and for a long time, I never thought of buying another camera because I always felt like there was still more I could learn with that set-up, that I had not mastered it yet. But at the same time, I had always wanted a full frame. So eventually, after coming to Sweden, I decided to start saving up and I bought a Sony A7 II, which has been my go-to now for two years, and I recently also bought my dream lens for it – the Sigma 24–70mm F2.8.

What are your best place or places to photograph in Stockholm?

Honestly, I think Stockholm itself is the best place. Anytime I look out and see that the weather looks good, I just take my camera and rush out to take pictures. This city is so beautiful, no matter where you go, you can definitely find something – that is the thing about Stockholm. But before moving to Stockholm, Gamla Stan was the place I always wanted to see. So at first when I came here, Gamla Stan was my favorite place to take pictures, because I had heard so much about it. But as soon as I started exploring Stockholm more and more, I found out that there are so many other amazing places as well.

 

Left: Misty Nights

Do you think you have been able to see Stockholm differently through your photography?

I definitely see Stockholm differently now compared to how I saw it before I came here. Through my photograph, I do not want to just show the inner city, but also the other parts of Stockholm. I like travelling around and finding different places, also places where tourists don’t go, or even places where Stockholmers don’t go. I spend time on Google Maps just to find new locations. Obviously, when I first moved here I started photographing from the center of the city, the more touristy parts of time, which of course never will get old and they all have their own beauty, but then I wanted to expand my horizons within Stockholm and show people that other parts of Stockholm can be just as beautiful too.

We also asked Samsul to pick out one of his Kolla-photos to talk more in-depth about:

Symmetrical Distribution

What is the story behind this photo?

This was during autumn, I think, and it was a quite spontaneous photo. I had no plan that day; I had been working all day, but I still wanted to do something more, so I just spontaneously went out and took my drone with me. And I called up a friend who is also a photographer so we could meet up. I told him we could meet by Nordiska Muséet, because I had an idea for a photo that I knew I wanted to take from there since before. There is this tipping point where you can see this view, and I wanted to fly my drone there and take a picture. I thought that the composition was good, and that the sky looked dramatic. Then, when I was there, all of a sudden I see this boat coming through here, and I hurried to take some pictures to get the shot with the boat in it. And after that, my friend turned up, and asked what was going on, and I told him, "Man, I got a really good picture today!"

What does this photo represent for you?

I used to always take these kinds of pictures before, where everything is quite underexposed, but with the light coming from one particular place. Back when I lived in Jönköping, there were a lot of this type of landscape that I could photograph, so my pictures were always with either the landscape, some thing, or a person that was quite underexposed, but then the color of the sky behind would bring the light, so that the focus on the image would be the light coming through, but while you could still seeing the subject in the foreground. I was into that type of photography for quite a while, but then after getting a drone, I realized that I kept doing the same thing with the drone, and I knew I had to try something new to evolve in my photography, and experiment more with light and color. So I guess this photo represents my style as it used to be, but that I've since then evolved. There is always room for trying out new things and improving, and you can always go back and revisit old styles if you want to. Although I tend to not go back generally, but sometimes one or two pictures pop up in my gallery that are more in my old style if I had a specific idea that I thought would suit that really well.

What tips would you give someone who would want to start taking street and city photos like yours?

My first tip would be to just go out and start taking pictures, and to always shoot in raw with manual focus, never with automatic. Start with manual and make mistakes with it. You will eventually learn how to work with the aperture and shutter speed, and with your eyes. So going out and taking pictures every day and taking it on manual, that was how I started and that was how I learned photography myself. That was the tip I got from Shahidullah, who taught me. Experience the moment and experiment with your camera, and just keep at it. There is a quote I really like from famous photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson that goes, "Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst." And the learning here, I think, is that you should not give up, because even though you are going to make some mistakes down the road, you will eventually get better – just never give up on taking pictures. When you first start out, you will take pictures that turn out not like the image you have in your head, maybe it is too blurry, or too overexposed. But learn to edit as well - many pictures can be saved with a little bit of editing even if you made a mistake or two when taking the picture, and that is why my tip also is to always shoot in raw.

What are your future goals or projects ahead?

Just to keep taking pictures as often as I can. My photography is something that motivates me, and keeps me happy, and it feels like this is something I never want to give up on. Even if I have had a rough day, as soon as I go out and take pictures, I just become happy again. And getting a good picture just really makes my day every time that happens. Right now, I just want to keep taking pictures, and keep learning as a photographer, because actually I feel like an amateur still, and that I still have a long way to go and a lot to learn. For example, most of my pictures, I take in portrait mode, and I still have to learn how to get more comfortable in landscape mode. It has been six years, but I have mainly, up until now, been working on trying to master portrait mode, which in a way has become my style now, but I want to evolve as a photographer and get more comfortable with landscape-style photography.

I also want to learn more about post-processing. Right now, I can tend to be a bit lazy, I just go to Lightroom and change the colors a bit, and be done with it. But I see other photographers doing really amazing retouch in Photoshop, and I want to learn more about that. Although I never want to fake my pictures of course, or go overboard with the editing. I do have a lot of respect for people who do digital art, or collages of their images in Photoshop, but since I am a photographer first and not a digital artist, I would feel like I betrayed myself if I did that to my picture because I want my pictures to be able to stand on their own.

I have also not been back to Bangladesh since I moved to Sweden actually. I do not have any concrete plans to go back at the moment, because of the pandemic, but when I do go back, I really want to try and capture that street life, and do a lot of street photography. And I think I will be able to see it from a completely new perspective after being away for so long. So I am really looking forward to that as well.

I still have a long way to go, but Kolla has actually been a really big motivation for me. The fact that my work is getting printed and that people are actually seeing my work, and buy my work to have in their homes. I feel really proud of that fact, that I can put my work out there and that people appreciate it.

See all photos by Samsul Alam Al-Majidi

You can also find Samsul on Instagram @visualtale

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