TEBA SADIQ

Teba Sadiq Abdul Hassan is a 22 year-old photojournalist and photographer working at Reuters.

"I started using the camera in 2017 as a hobby to photograph family events, etc., and did not know the basics of a mechanical camera such as the aperture and shutter speed. After that, I started taking photography workshops online and in several places, until the day came when I watched Hondros, an American documentary about war photographer Chris Hondros, who covered many wars, including the Iraq war. Since that day, I have loved journalism and found it a great thing for transmitting the truth. Then, on October 1, 2019, a revolution began in central and southern Iraq: I went to the place of the demonstrations that day and was documenting the events of the revolution with my camera and posting pictures on my Instagram account. Many people saw my work and showed their admiration for it, and my friends encouraged me as well. A full year after the date of the revolution I was presented with a job offer at one of the international news agencies, and photography is now not just a hobby for me, but a profession as well."

"I did not study photography through university, but rather through workshops. The female element in photojournalism is very little in Iraq. I want to make it clear to the world and the Iraqi society that there are female photojournalists here who deserve the title and can face the difficulties of field journalism, which is not just for men. And I always explain this through the pictures that I take. The pictures are unconventional and they are in difficult situations such as demonstrations and places where photography is somewhat difficult, such as holy places. There’s always a hope in my mind that a photograph will spark a thought, realization, or action that could help to change a situation for the better."