Pakistan's photographer Asim Cheema

 

Asim Cheema

Pakistani photographic artist Asim Cheema is known for his stunning pictures. He has won a few honours including the HIPA grants, CAPA grants 2019, to a Gold award from the Camarena Academy for his work. He keeps on showing photography in Pakistan, UAE, Kenya, and Oman.

Photographer Asim Cheema is a professional creative digital visual communications strategist/designer, who provides services of design in marketing and communication to the world's leading organizations globally. Recently he has been commissioned by GHAI as one of the Designers of Future for 2020-21 and 2021-2022 & 2020-23. He’s an alumnus of Pakistan’s prestigious Sialkot Institute of Communication where he conducted his Masters in Media Studies and Digital Marketing along with other master’s programs, Master of Fine Arts in Graphic Design, and MFA in Audio Visual Journalism. Among all these master’s courses, he was the recipient of special awards like the Best Technical Achievement Award (Sialkot Institute), Grand Prix at The Pakistan Museum, Global Media Development Magazine Creative Media Awards (PMA) 2018, Global News Excellence Award 2017, and Emerging Eye Winner at Karachi Fashion Week. In addition to this, he also received various other awards recognizing achievements including the Special Award Honours from Islamabad College of Photography.

Photography is an art, and nobody can beat him when it comes to good-quality pictures. When I meet Asim Cheema, my first thought was how brilliant he was. Then I remembered that I have met many great photographers even, but not so many because of our differences in photography. Here is someone very different. And his style is different. Asim Cheema is the best of them all. But what I loved most are those photographs of myself, because they are just me without makeup. A picture that looks like a video and a song, without any artificial effects or editing. It’s such a unique combination that I loved it more than any piece of work that I have done for the past few years. Especially my hair, which always looked like an egg when it was still black and now it looks more like a cake; or whenever I look back I just remember my tresses looking like eggs, so that’s why people can spot me easily.

Photography is all about making pictures look like works of art no matter if there is no audience around, I feel like I am doing something right. There should always be a reason behind every photo so that people will understand that people in particular in their community would love this photo but they didn’t realize what beautiful subject of photography they were posing for before. This may sound pretty easy to those who don't really know what they are taking, but just know that you are giving away your talent. If you give out your talent and then nobody notices it, you are not going to make good results but maybe you could take your portrait picture and tell people it's a painting because it's so close to nature or it's a documentary picture because it tells a story and everyone wants to see that you are a true artist. So I think being a true artist is better than just giving out photos because the final product depends on both factors.

Photography is the only way to tell stories and share your thoughts because now social media has brought us all together. You don’t need to be surrounded by other artists like I am. To show off your skills it’s much easier to show off by yourself. What's important here is what you're passionate about. Maybe you're a famous musician, actor, singer or you're just a talented writer you need to express yourself through words and then write it down and then take it to step by step and make sure you get it right. That sounds hard but you can do it if you're motivated. There’s a lot of competition among artists because you need to have followers to attract good attention towards you. It can be tough to become renowned only because everybody wants to be famous, but that doesn’t mean that you know what you want to be.

To start photography you need a tripod so you can capture those amazing shots. Most of the time we don’t realize that the technology has become so advanced nowadays and sometimes people don’t understand what kind of equipment they need, even though if we are taking pictures we are using our smartphone cameras, Snapchat, Instagram, and Facebook and so on. We are living in a modern society, but a few years back photography wasn’t invented yet, many people can’t do anything beyond simply clicking on a selfie and a video. Now everything is possible and so are we.

Photography is a job you've got to do. Like me, don’t let anyone push you and make you believe you’re an amateur. Look after the money and never buy gear to fulfil your dream. It’s difficult when you compare the number of things you need to buy in comparison with others. Every camera should be your friend because a camera is the greatest tool that gives us the freedom to create our dream world which can change the way we see the photography field. Have patience and trust your equipment because there’s a lot of time and money invested into your next project. Yes, some professionals are in the street, but you can teach your students the same things you learned in school, which is respecting other people. Remember photography isn't about fame, power, money, sex, or anything else. Just focus on making sure you're passionate about your niche and not on that superficial thing. Be open to learning new tricks because your success depends on your attitude towards your craft.

When I saw Asim Cheema, I was amazed too because of his talent. Since him, I had been planning to change my lifestyle but unfortunately, I haven’t had the chance to do so yet. Being a freelancer as well, being able to spend all the time with my son and spend time with my wife was quite exciting too. I was happy that I wasn’t distracted by my friends just because I couldn’t do anything but be the person I love i.e., I guess he helped me realize my dreams and gave me the courage not to allow myself to be limited by my friends and society. His photograph is my favourite because it shows exactly what people are looking at when you take any photograph and that is the real person inside of them. Not everyone is looking at you in a certain way, people are looking at what they have done right. They are trying to see what you can do, that is how they can trust you too. Let’s be ourselves instead of copying the image of others. Never forget to give respect and love to people who are your role models for the future generation.

Asif Cheema is a great example of a photographer who has made his career from the bottom up no matter the challenges in life. He became successful through sheer hard work and dedication. No doubt he'll grow stronger to achieve greatness. My advice to him is to always keep on working hard and never settle for less than what you deserve. Good luck with his upcoming projects and thank you again.

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