Photos in Arabic Culture
Photo or picture is the representative of anything. By photos one can remember the old days or some beautiful moments. Picture can be drawn or taken by the camera. At old days people used coals other things to draw and leaves, hills’ wall, trees’ barks as drawing pad. After a long time people invent cameras for capturing photos, the moment one can want to save on memory. By this came photography. People take photos on birth days, wedding days and on many occasional programs. These photos show the nature of programs, trends or process of entertainment, in a word a صور or picture shows an image of a people, an occasion as far as country’s culture.
“Photography” is derived from the Greek words photos (“light”) and graphein (“to draw”). The word was first used by the scientist Sir John F.W. Herschel in 1839. On a summer day in 1827, Joseph Nicephore Niepce made the first photographic image with a camera obscure. Prior to Niepce people just used the camera obscure for viewing or drawing purposes not for making photographs. Joseph Nicephore Niepce’s heliographs or sun prints as they were called were the prototype for the modern photograph, by letting light draw the picture. Louis Daguerre was the inventor of the first practical process of photography. In 1829, he formed a partnership with Joseph Nicephore Niepce to improve the process Niepce had developed.
Every country, every religion has its own trends for photography. Actually Muslim religion has more restriction on taking photos of people. Most Islamic countries also follow the rules of Islam. Arab is one of them. Sometime problems arise when police or citizens raise objections to raising the camera. The only secure way to take pictures in peace here is to ensure that not pointing the camera at people or at sensitive assets, like government buildings or housing compounds. Saudis are famously adverse to being photographed, particularly photographing family members and especially photographing women. The reasons behind this are complicated and linked to Saudi culture and family reputation. In the age of the Internet exhibition, the aversion has become stronger: The fear that a woman’s picture could end up online to sully the reputation of her and her family is strong enough that photos have been used by men for sexual blackmail, something the religious police grapple with constantly. Under Saudi law, anyone being photographed — even in a crowded public place — retains the right to object to being photographed.In addition to the cultural fears and privacy concerns of photographing people in public, Saudi law explicitly states that certain buildings may not be photographed, citing security concerns. In most cases, this includes government buildings and anywhere a “No photographs” sign is posted. But police are known to stop and ask for permits from anyone taking photos of buildings.
Photography is growing in Saudi Arabia; there is plenty of talent/art to be passed around within Arabic society. But these limitation forces many of them to find something else to do.
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