The Photographer – Haneen Oriqat

Photography is much more than a hobby to me. It’s another form of breathing. After experimenting for years with several cameras, I now own a beautiful Canon DSLR that has traveled with me all over California, neighboring states, the East Coast, overseas, and most recently to Europe. Having been born and raised in San Diego, my favorite type of photography is natural light photography, capturing beautiful moments all over America’s Finest City.

I remember being that kid who was always concerned about capturing moments – all sorts of experiences – to feel like I had more control than just creating a snapshot of a moment in my head. My love for photography started around the same time I was able to understand the concept of a camera.

My parents couldn’t afford to get me anything fancy, but they still managed to get me simple cameras, disposable and film, back in elementary school. Both of my mom’s uncles also loved photography and whenever I would visit them, I would sit there watching them work their fancy cameras. By the time that high school came around, my parents were able to buy me one of the first digital cameras. A small, silver Olympus followed by a nicer pink Sony camera. I finally made the leap to take photography more seriously after my first quarter at the University of California, San Diego. I took on a photography minor and bought my first professional film camera. I learned to love playing with colors and spending hours in the darkroom. When UCSD lost funding for their arts, the department was forced to remove all film equipment and I bought my first DSLR, taking my skills further and self-teaching myself Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator.

Check out my portfolio of photography work here.