Raghda is a 25 year old egyptian photographer. She graduated from the Ahram Canadian University in Egypt, majoring in Marketing. She has previously worked at Identity Magazine as a Senior Writer and has made many creative editorial collaborations regarding her photography. She was always interested in Arts in general and was greatly supported by her friends and family to pursue a career as photographer. Out of all the Arts, El-Sayed chose to experiment with photography because of how the camera captures a photograph, making it last forever. She is die hard Star Wars fan and a proud mother of six cats and a dog.

What made you pursue a career in photography? I started taking photography seriously as a career after I felt that there wasn’t enough creativity freedom in Egypt. I also felt like I had a lot of ideas that I needed to share with the world.

How was your experience at Identity Magazine as a Senior Writer? I first started off as a Junior Editor at the magazine, I had no experience writing professionally until they gave me an intense training and helped me whenever I needed it. Even though I never called myself a writer before this position, I tried to practice on my own time before getting hired while I was in college. After a short period of time and hard work, I was promoted to a Senior position. It was a great experience, you learn something every day, meet a lot of people, and it was overall a fun experience.


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How do you describe your photography style? I LOVE COLORS! I love mixing colors, I love something that looks edgy in a way that makes people think. I always have a story behind any shoot. Experimenting is also part of the process and yeah..some ideas fail but others succeed so it’s not so bad.

How important is Photoshop in your work? As a fashion photographer, it is somewhat important because smooth skin is part of the job, many models aren’t always graced with fair skin. But personally, I’m not a huge Photoshop fan if it isn’t necessary. I don’t like changing the model’s features. Like for example, Lightroom is also extremely important because it helps fix the color, lighting and everything else.

Can you tell us the true basis of your inspiration? I know it sounds a bit narcissistic but, I like get all the inspiration from myself. My head never stops thinking, and I always think of the most craziest things which are inspired by my surroundings. The streets of Egypt and living here already helps with getting inspired. Basically my thoughts about life inspire me to be creative.

Is there a difference between photography in the Middle East and The West? Yes, a lot. Middle Easterns fear getting creative, as for Egypt, a lot of people are afraid to experiment with new ideas and getting creative. They “stick with the book” in a way making everything too modest and its rare when you see someone in the Arts more daring with what they do.


What advice do you have for anyone who wants to pursue a career in the photography industry? Patience, patience and patience because it’s a very “cut throat” industry and as much as social media helps us, it ruined it because it’s all about the followers. Everyone steps on each other on social media just because of the amount of followers they have. Be very patient and don’t give up.

What was the best advice you received? To show up for whatever, because you never know if something you missed could have opened doors and become a good opportunity for you. Always have faith, do your part and it will happen.