Sheikh Hamdan 'likes' Indian, Pakistani photographers' snaps of Dubai

The Crown Prince of Dubai is among the most active leaders on social media. Even as he posts details about his adventures, official engagements and inspirational fitness routines, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum also finds the time to encourage talented individuals.

Two such lucky photographers who got ‘liked’ by the Dubai Crown Prince on Instagram are Indian resident Nishas Ahmed and Pakistani expat Altamash Javed.

A freelance photographer, Nishas had just returned from his day job last week when a notification on his Instagram made his eyes pop. “I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw that Sheikh Hamdan had commented,” he said. “I checked and rechecked my account at least 20 times to make sure that it was not a fake account. After a while, my friends and family found out and they were overjoyed.”

The 27-year-old, who landed in Dubai in early 2019, had taken the photograph in November the same year when an international yoga practitioner came to the country. “We wanted to take some shots and when we asked Shangri-La, they gave us permission to shoot within their premises,” he said.

However, it wasn’t until a few weeks ago that Nishas got around to posting the photo. “Because photography is something I do in my free time, it sometimes takes time to go through all my photos, find the best and post,” he said. “I never imagined that this is the response I would get.”

Meanwhile, Altamash (@aljvd) is a professional photographer whose photos have been ‘liked’ and commented on by Sheikh Hamdan several times in the past. “The first instance was back in 2016,” he said. “Instagram had featured one of my photos, so he came to my page and commented on it. My friends actually were the first to notice and I got a ton of messages and calls. It was such a huge moment for me. I humbly thanked him in the reply.”

Shortly afterwards, in 2017, the Abu Dhabi-born Pakistani took up photography full time. He says it took him a long time to decide to make the switch. “I took it up as a passion in 2015, first starting with my phone,” he said. “One of my biggest inspirations to take up photography came from when I attended a talk by a photographer named Reza that HIPA (Hamdan International Photography Award) hosted. It showed me the power of photography. I haven’t stopped since.”

Following this, he has had a number of achievements including being featured on the official handle of Instagram five times and winning a Sheikh Zayed Mosque photography competition. He also counts the role he plays in social causes as a big win. “More recently I was part of Tashkeel’s plastic exhibition,” he said. “I donated a framed picture from that exhibition to a school. It showed the impact of us littering and what it could do to wildlife.” Altamash is currently documenting mosques across the world through his page @masjidseries on Instagram in a bid to combat Islamophobia.

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