 |
| By
capturing movement, Ismail highlights both nature's beauty
and power. |
The
home of Youssef Ismail is serenely quiet. If there is a television
in the house, it won’t be found anywhere in the living room where
one might expect a television to reside. The same goes for music.
There are no stereos, clock radios, boom-boxes, headphones or CDs to
be found. In their place is a muffled silence that is only broken by
the human voice or the occasional clamoring of Ismail’s three
young children.
For
many Americans, such silence would be intolerable. Without the
accompanying clatter of entertainment devices, many American homes
just don’t seem normal. But Ismail, a 30-something Muslim from
Northern California, is a different kind of normal. An engineer by
profession and an artist by avocation, Ismail perfectly fits the
serenity of his home life.
From
the minimalist black-on-white Arabic calligraphy hanging on the
living room wall, to the many framed photographs mounted
strategically throughout the house, Ismail’s reserved and
introspective character is reflected in his surroundings.
Looking
more closely at Ismail’s photographs though, one is surprised to
find that these beautiful landscape images are more than just a
series of tactful design choices made at the hands of him or his
wife whilst browsing through some photo gallery. For scribbled
legibly on the matting of each photo is the name “Youssef Ismail”.
Ismail’s
journey as a photographer has been long and winding. With neither
professional nor informal training, he was left to his own devices
to develop his craft from snapping random shots to producing true
art. His journey began in the early 1990s when Ismail was still
pursuing a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering at Stanford University.
“That’s
the picture that started it all,” says Ismail, pointing at a dark,
unclear, seemingly poor five by seven photograph.
To
the untrained eye, the picture looks like nothing more than a
botched attempt at capturing dawn’s first light. But with
Ismail’s guidance, it becomes clear that the picture is so much
more; for in the middle of photo, barely visible, sits the
glimmering sliver of a crescent that is the hilal, or “New
Moon”. Used by Muslims to mark the beginning of each new lunar
month, the hilal is a special feature of the evening sky that is
mentioned in Islam’s holy book, the Qur’an, itself. As Ismail
explains it, it was the search for the Hilal that sparked his
interest in photography.
In
1991, while at Stanford, he found himself in the midst of a debate
amongst Muslims there concerning the start of the Muslim holy month
of Ramadan. Hoping to see the hilal that would cue Muslims to begin
their month of fasting and prayer, Ismail headed out each evening to
gaze upon the sky. Unfortunately he was unable to see the hilal for
Ramadan; but as the months wore on, he became more proficient. Soon
enough people began to wonder if his sightings were indeed accurate.
“Everyone
started saying, ‘Well, hey, Youssef’s saying he’s seeing the
moon,’” says Ismail. “But they didn’t believe me. So I said
to myself, ‘I have to find a way to prove this.’ So I said,
‘I’ll take my camera.’”
|
| Finding
contrasting compositional elements is one of Ismail's
strengths. |
Two
cameras and some months later, Ismail had his proof. But more than
that, he had the motivation to go out and photograph nature as Allah
(swt) has created it. “The photography then started to have a
purpose,” says Ismail, “because [Allah swt] asked us to go out
into his creation and look at the signs; because it is from those
signs that you’ll start to know who he is.”
In
the years since his experience with the moon, Ismail has spent an
increasing amount of time with photography, hoping to one day
forsake his career as a Silicon Valley engineer for a life amidst
the trees, flowers, hills and meadows that make up the landscapes
Ismail so loves.
The
biggest step Ismail has thus far taken in the direction of
professional photography has been the launching of his company,
Organic Light Photography. To hear him speak of his business venture
is a lesson in the art of science and window into Ismail’s
spiritual motivations behind his art.
“Essentially,
every object does give off light,” says Ismail. “And the way it
gives of light is when you have a light source other than the object
itself, and it gives off an incident light, and that light comes,
the photons enter the actual body and excite the electrons that make
up whatever matter there is there.”
“And
when the electrons calm down they reemit a different photon. So from
a quantum physics point of view, every object does give off light.
But it has to have a light source first in order for light to come
off of it.”
Reframing
the issue in a less scientific manner, Ismail goes on to note,
however, that there is a more esoteric reality behind his
photography.
“We
have the ayat [verses] from the Qur’an that Allah [swt] is the
light of the heavens and the earth; and so I really started to
ponder on that,” notes Ismail. “And so it started to grow up
into that form where to me organic light was knowing how matter
interacts with life itself. This is what I call organic light.
It’s the resulting light of the interaction between the pure light
and the rest of creation … It is because of the light that we are
actually able to live. And so there’s a whole interaction that
take place with light and life.
|
| Ismail's
juxtapositioning of color can be dramatic and striking. |
This
more spiritual view of photography truly comes out in Ismail’s
work. Using a personal technique that relies heavily capturing the
reality of a natural moment, Ismail waits for the proper interaction
between light and matter. The results are stunning landscapes with
sky meeting earth, water juxtaposed against land, wind relentlessly
whipping seas and plant life pushing forth from the ground.
“I
don’t mess with things,” says Ismail. “I just try to take the
picture as it is.”
In
not tampering with his subject matter, notes Ismail, or playing too
much with color in the development stage of his work, the finished
product is something that can be used to draw people’s attention
to creator behind the objects in the pictures. To really drive this
home, Ismail adds captions to his photographs that are influenced by
Qur’anic passages and sayings of the Prophet Muhammad (saaws).
In
pointing so directly to the presence of Allah (swt) through his
work, Ismail feels he is fulfilling a religious duty. “My
photography right now is really centered on the remembrance of
Allah,” says Ismail.
In
a very real sense, it is this very remembrance that makes Ismail’s
work indeed memorable.
Ismail’s
work can be viewed online at www.organiclightphoto.com
or at the Warner Park Art Fair in Woodland Hills, CA (April 20-21),
the Union Street Art Fair in San Francisco, CA (June 1-2), the San
Anselmo Art Fair in San Anselmo, CA (June 22-23) and the Half Moon
Bay Pumpkin Festival in Half Moon Bay, CA (Oct. 19-20).
