Mohammed Alsharif is a young photographer from Libya who saw a need to change the way his community viewed photographers and took action to educate locals in his area and break the stereotypes cast on photographers.
About the Event
Al Bayda is a coastal town in eastern Libya where Mohammed and his friends live and hosted an event to show the beauty of the profession and to help his community overcome their misconceptions on what it means to be a photographer.
During this event he would train attendees on different aspects of photography, and he asked them to come dressed in traditional Libyan clothing so that he could capture his culture in photos.
Marketing the Event
Mohammed (who goes by Medo) and his friends used Facebook as a tool to market the event. They shared it on their pages and asked their friends and families and others in the community to share the event with others and join.
Although there was a lot of support, there was also some expected adversity that Medo and his friends had to overcome. A lot of this came in the form of online bullying, and demeaning the event. Other times it came in the form of passerby's on the street saying negative comments about photography and how it is a 'westernized hobby' and not a 'respected profession'.
The Event
Despite the adversity, Medo and his friends successfully carried out the event where around 100 people joined.
