Oman photographer highlights wildlife conservation with his pictures

Muscat: Omani photographer Waheed Al Fazari has managed to combine his love for wildlife and his profession in a series of monochromatic photographs.
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“My position as Head of the Wildlife Division at the Office for Conservation of Environment (OCE), Diwan of Royal Court, means that I am supervising different conservation projects related to threatened species in Oman like the Nubian Ibex, the Arabian Ibex, the gazelle and others.”
Al Fazari has been involved in environmental conservation for almost 10 years, and said he began documenting the species that he was studying at the time.
“I studied environmental biology and studied the wildlife and ecosystem in which I developed my passion. I volunteered for conservation projects dealing with species in Oman. I started taking photographs in 2011 when I graduated from Sultan Qaboos University. It was a side hobby for me,” Al Fazari said.
“For the black and white themed wildlife portraits, I tried to give the community, photographers and Oman a different perspective when looking at the animals as a species, other than the colour of the environment and typical look. I’m focusing on the heads, the portraits, in harsh black and white (monochrome),” he said.
According to Al Fazari, this enables the viewer to look directly in the eyes and the patterns of the animal, such as the horns, the skin, and the small details with a focus on the head.
“As we know, the black and white photos are meant to present the emotion of the subject or the emotion of the surroundings of the subject you want to present,” he said. In 2013, Al Fazari joined the Photographic Society of Oman (PSO) as a registered photographer in Oman. Earlier this year, he received the title “Artist of the Federation” from FIAP.
In 2016, Al Fazari travelled with a group of photographers to Tanzania where they spent the whole trip taking photos of wildlife that can be found on his Instagram account.