July 2008

Creative photography and graphic design combined.

Professional portraits are ideal for clients requiring quality and creative portrait photography for editorial needs, corporate publicity, annual reports and illustrative purposes or just for people who want a strong, honest and contemporary portrait of themselves that shows their true personality.
For over six-years, Hossen Soufan Studios has pushed the boundaries to create energetic, experimental and revolutionary photographs.
As a photographer, Soufan uses the latest technology from the click of the shutter to the inished piece.
Soufan works to fulill his life dream of popularizing and legitimizing the professional photography industry in Syria.
“Such a dream had almost come true once in 1982, when photography pioneers in Syria established the Photography Art Club.
” Among those Syrian pioneers were Sabbah Qabbani, Marwan Meslimani, Faisal al-Sitt, George Ashe and Salim Sabri.
All of them are now struggling for survival, and are in need of instant support and revitalization.
In the meantime, his efforts are dedicated to publishing ive photography books registering various aspects of Syrian art.
His irst publication will be under the title of “Waiting,” to be published on August 16, 2008, highlighting the idea of the non-studio portrait.
The second under the title “Theater” depicts some 45 Syrian plays performed between 2003 and 2008.
In “Dancing in the Dark,” inspired by the dance photography work of the renowned US photographer Lois Greenield, Soufan’s lens cropped the impossible positions of performers’ bodies, and the resulting images are startling.
In this illustrated book, with the frame of the photo creating unexpected entrances and exits, the viewer “starts to consider ‘on screen’ space in relation to the depicted space,” explains Soufan.
“One Hundred Portraits” depicts prominent outstanding Syrian igures, such as writers, artists, sculptors, and poets photographed in calculated studio conditions.
The inal book, “Damascus,” highlights the city’s glamour and unmatched monuments, as Soufan seeks Hossen Soufan, an example of how creative and ine young Syrians can the colors that beautify the daily life of the ancient city.
“The books are ive messages I extend to the world about my country, as a resort of peace, history and dreams,” says Soufan.
Soufan sees himself as both a graphic designer and a photographer.
For him, graphic design teaches how to properly use space and color, while photography explores the many possible ways to frame the shot.
Both are intended to share a balanced combination of the frame, the dream of life, and light, which are the three basic effective elements in each and every artist’s creative work.
There is a variance between the perception of the same view to different people, natures and worlds.
“I see the world as a big theater, where the transition of the roles and people along with the harmony of the elements produces a show throughout the course of our lives,” Soufan says, adding, “I see people changing as well as thoughts, and perspectives varying in a world where the spectator plays the actual role he sees from time to time.
This is the idea my pictures come from, which in essence captured the moments of the people living around me.
In those people, I see the actor, the director and the play-writer simultaneously.
” Expressing optimism over the situation of Syrian graphic design, he insisted, “we are in the third if not the second position in the Arab world in this pioneering genre of art, after Dubai and Lebanon.
” Soufan, who studied photography in Spain, is preparing for a PHD in photography from Boston University.
He has a master’s degree in “Theatre Body Language” from Boston’s Professional Photography in America (PPA) association.

She was a young student at the Faculty of Arabic Literature at Latakia University.
He was an established poet and playwright living in Damascus.
Enchanted with the theater, Ilham Abdul-Latif participated in several theater festivals in Damascus.
At one point, the amateur cast was facing major problems in set and decoration, and Ilham had a loud argument with one of the theater administrators.
Mamduh Udwan, a rising name in Syria, showed up at the gates of the Qabbani Theater, and asked them what was happening.
Upset, and recognizing a potential supporter, Ilham replied, “Mr.
Mamduh; they are fighting us because we come from a small city called Latakia!” “Take it easy,” he said smiling.