Alaa Elkamhawi
Cairo Governorate, Egypt
Alaa Elkamhawi is a freelancing photojournalist. Born on the 8th of August 1987 in Egypt.
Before the Egyptian revolution in 2011, I studied law at Ain Shams University. Once the revolution started, I began taking pictures and working as a freelancer, focusing on the political unrest and social issues resulting from the revolution.
Then I realized this is what I want do the rest of my life.
In 2012 I joined the daily newspaper “Almasry Alyoum”, where I covered a lot of hard news, conflict areas and human right stories. This is where I gained a lot of experience. During this time, the Muslim Brotherhoods sit-in demonstration in July/August 2013, which lead to the death of at least 800 people, had a significant impact on me as a photographer. Covering these violent historical events, I felt a responsibility towards my people. In the years that followed I also covered, for example, the armed conflict in north Sinai in Egypt that is still ongoing.
I also participated in different workshops in Cairo, e.g. “The Reportage Project” a course for photojournalists about the execution of photo essays. It was a collaboration between the Contemporary Image Collective in Cairo, Pathshala South Asian Media Institute, and Oslo Akershus University College.
I also participated in “The Journalist at Risk” a course organized by (ICRC) and the German Development Cooperation (GIZ) about journalism safety in conflict areas.
In 2015 I received the Visual Story Telling Diploma from the Danish school of Media and Journalism in Aarhus, Denmark.
- Conflict
- Crisis
- Entertainment
- Events
- Portrait