Carrying his camera on his shoulder since he was young ... a Kuwaiti man who surpasses his disability and becomes a professional photographer

Mohamed El Sayed - Doha

Despite the handicap that afflicted his skinny body, his camera remained on his shoulder from childhood until his photography turned into a passion and a source of livelihood at the same time.

Kuwaiti youth Fahd Al-Bastaki, who is 24 years old, suffers from paralysis since his birth, but his paralysis did not prevent him from being a prominent name in the world of talented photographers through his participation in a number of sports events, the last of which is the FIFA Club World Cup 2019 in Qatar.

Football played an important role in the life of the Kuwaiti photographer, despite his inability to practice it with his friends, his love for her since his early childhood and his reluctance to playgrounds made him professional sports photography so that he is close to football and satisfies his desire and denial of his practice.

Al Bastaki says that his love for photography started from a young age, where he possessed a rudimentary camera, and his love for the Kuwaiti Qadisiyah team, in addition to his good knowledge of various sports, contributed to his excellence in sports photography, and his understanding of the laws helped him how to take pictures in a good way by anticipating the player's movement and position And other art.

Al-Bastaki started his journey with photography as a young man with a camera he acquired in dozens of dinars, and at the age of 15 he developed his hobby by filming Al-Qadisiyah training, before he became a professional two years later and acquired the latest cameras at about five thousand Kuwaiti dinars (more than 16 thousand US dollars).

Unique work despite disability
Despite suffering from a disability in his left foot that prevents him from walking in a natural way, he does not tire of the difficulty of carrying his heavy equipment bag on his back, and he strives with his camera to transform an ordinary scene into a unique artwork in a consistent way.

He believes that his handicap did not interfere with the practice of the photography profession, but it may affect his taking of some pictures because there are pictures that need a specific position in the photography that he may not be able to perform as required, so he is forced to take it from a second angle or is based on anything until he approaches the shot that Imagine it.

Al Bastaki considers photography an arduous profession, as the photographer needs time to take pictures, and times that time he spends in front of the computer to choose the best photos and process them.

Although he did not exceed the third decade of his life, he covered the most famous sporting tournaments, whether at the Gulf, Asian or International level, but he is looking forward to covering the upcoming FIFA World Cup in Qatar 2022 and the Olympic Games as they are the two largest sporting events in the world.

The most prominent characters
It is considered that the Emir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani are the most prominent figures captured by his lens, in addition to the German coach Jurgen Klopp and the stars of the team, led by the Egyptian Mohamed Salah.

Al-Bastaki worked on the media team of Al-Qadisiyah Club in 2015, but he is currently working as a freelance photographer, where he photographes and displays his coverage on the Sports Corner, a media platform he established with a group of his friends and is interested in sports affairs.

Al-Bastaki and a group of his friends came to Doha since late November to cover the Arab Gulf Cup and Club World Cup, and they cost a lot of money at their own expense in order to achieve their passion and love to cover the World Championship for the first time.

The Kuwaiti photographer, not only in support of his family and friends, was satisfied with his work as a photographer for sporting events only, but Al-Bastaki excelled in the sport of fencing with his will and determination, until he became a member of the Kuwaiti fencing team for the disabled.