Emerging Fervour

I came across Tanya Traboulsi when interviewing musician, Zeid Hamdan (check out the interview here). An amazing photographer, Tanya captures the atmosphere of all her subjects and I just couldn’t resist asking her some big questions…

Tanya, we saw your work when we interviewed Zeid Hamdan and fell in love with it, please tell us a little about you?

I grew up in Beirut and at some point moved to Austria, then came back to Lebanon. Photography was always part of my life, even as a child. I didn’t study it though, I studied fashion design and then later on started working in photography.

Your images really capture atmosphere’s and emotions, what’s your secret?

I think that the most important thing in life is to have a passion for something. Anything you do that you truly love, will succeed. And this passion and love will show in your work, whatever work it is. Also, I think that it’s really important to know (or at least try to know) what you want in / from life, and more importantly what you don’t want. Once you have figured that out, things become much easier.

What was your favourite shoot?

I can’t really think of only one favourite shoot… When I shoot concerts and musicians, I feel really inspired and at ease, because I love and have always loved music, and the musicians that I photograph are wonderful artists that truly inspire me.

Carte Blanche to The Ex ∨

Haussmann Tree ∨

Ben Frost ∨

A-Trio ∨

Charbel Haber | Tony Elieh | Tarek Atoui ∨

All my series are quite personal and have a special meaning to me, like for example my latest series that I shot in Beirut, called “Collection 1983″.

∧ “Collection 1983 was shot in an abandoned wood factory during the Lebanese civil war that was later occupied by militias. The raw concrete walls became a canvas for their hopes and dreams as fighting raged around. Locked away and neglected, these palimpsest images offer a snapshot into the minds of forgotten soldiers” ∨

If you could have chosen to photograph any event of the past 100 years, what event would that be?

That’s a very difficult question, because think of all the important and interesting events that happened in the past 100 years!

It’s not an event, but I would have loved to mingle with Andy Warhol, The Velvet Undergound & Co. at The Factory.

Being from Lebanon, is there always a lot to capture?

Yes. I find Lebanon (and especially Beirut) very inspiring. You can find anything in Lebanon, you just have to know where to search for it.

Lastly, we are a blog about emerging fashion designers and musicians so we must ask you, who is your favourite fashion designer and musician?

Fashion Designer: Krikor Jabotian

Musician: I can’t restrict my answer to only one artist, it’s impossible, because I like so many and have a very broad taste in music. I can tell you the genres that I like most: electronic, experimental, drone, punk-rock.

Well, there you have it – Tanya Traboulsi everyone! You can check out her site here.

Photograph of Tanya taken by George Haddad. All images © Copyright Tanya Traboulsi – www.tanyatraboulsi.com