Skip to main content
CorrespondentCorrespondent
Facebook Twitter This site (RSS)
Languages

Search form

Abd Doumany
Freelance photographer in Douma, Syria
  • AFP / Sameer al-Doumy
  • AFP / Delil Souleiman
  • AFP / Delil Souleiman
  • AFP / Sameer al-Doumy
  • AFP / Abd Doumany
  • AFP / Sameer al-Doumy
  • AFP / Abd Doumany

Syria shimmers of hope

Friday 30 September 2016

The men who today document the images of war-torn Syria for AFP came from all walks of pre-war life. Delil Souleiman was interested in art and sculpture, Abd Doumany was studying dentistry, Sameer al-Doumy was dreaming of being a doctor. Today, with their colleagues, they produce stunning, heartbreaking photographs of the destruction wreaked upon their home -- images of bloodied children, of piles of rubble that were once homes, of suffering and pain. These images have shown the outside world what war looks like, they have won them awards and recognition. But these aren’t the images they treasure.

"Photographers who document wars in their own countries, be they in Chechnya at the start of the century or in Syria today, often say the same thing. Their best-known  images -- the heartbreak and destruction of their homelands -- are not the ones of which they are the most proud.

"The images they cherish are those of 'ordinary' life -- stolen moments of normality in their shattered lands. These pictures are at once illusion and defiance. Illusion, because they offer a chance to forget the death and killing all around them, even for just a few moments. Defiance, because they offer a chance to show the world that there is joy and happiness, even in a place where hope is as scarce as it is in today’s Syria."

Read more
  • AFP / Abd Doumany
  • AFP / Abd Doumany
  • AFP / Abd Doumany
  • AFP / Abd Doumany
  • AFP / Abd Doumany

The others

Tuesday 30 August 2016

"People have asked if I was surprised by the reaction to the photos of the Syrian boy in the ambulance, Omran," writes Abd Doumany, a photographer based in Syria's Douma.

"To tell you the truth, I wasn’t. Here is a child, a tiny child, caught in the horrors of war. You would have to be heartless not to be moved by those images. He was lucky that there was a camera to document his pain. But don’t think for a second that he is alone. There have been -- and will be -- countless others."

Read more

My people, under the bombs

Friday 6 February 2015

"It’s an airstrike that wakes me up, just near my house in a rebel-held part of the Damascus suburbs," writes AFP photographer Abd Doumany. "It’s 8.30 am. I think at first it’s just the one, but my hopes soon fade with the sound of another strike. And another. The bombing doesn’t stop until sunset. The government jets target everything. Apartment blocks, mosques, schools, even a hospital. I see it as my duty to document people’s suffering. I also think it hurts much more, every detail, every story, because this is my home and these are my people."

Read more

Stroll through the ruins

Saturday 27 December 2014

"This was a crowded market before the Syria uprising. It’s one of the worst-damaged streets in Douma, the rebel bastion in the suburbs of Damascus that has been under government siege for more than a year now," writes Abd Doumany. "People are certainly not safe to venture outside, but they have to."

Read more
AFP Photo / Abd Doumany

Syria's 'hospital' of horrors

Wednesday 12 November 2014

Douma is a Syrian rebel Bastion. A city of 200,000 just northeast of Damascus, it has been under siege for more than a year by forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad, and has been hit practically every day by heavy artillery fire and air and ground raids.

"I head to the hospital each time an intense bombing or air raid hits Douma to document the attacks", says Abd Doumany, a freelance photographer that works for AFP. "At times when I arrive, it is as if I've entered a nightmare".

Read more

 

About AFP

Agence France-Presse (AFP) is a leading global news agency providing fast, comprehensive and verified coverage of the events shaping our world and of the issues affecting our daily lives. Drawing from an unparalleled news gathering network across 151 countries, AFP is also a world leader in digital verification. With 2,400 staff representing 100 different nationalities, AFP covers the world in six languages, with a unique quality of multimedia storytelling spanning video, text, photos and graphics.

Copyright © 2019, AFP

Our other blogs

  • Focus (in Spanish)
  • Making-of (in French)
  • Tumblr AFP Photo
  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
Facebook Twitter This site (RSS)