Lucia Fahmy | Cairo
Lucia Fahmy (Lu for short) is a self-described earth wanderer and wind friend who captures the peaceful poetry and gentleness of daily life. She transitioned to freelance photography in 2023.
How did you first get into photography?
The first camera I ever had was one gifted to me by my parents when I was in my early teens. I’m not sure how, but something about holding the camera made me open my eyes in a way, and pay attention to things I’ve never really, truly looked at. Maybe I have seen it, but not *looked* at it.
I was so lost in my own head, cartoons, and games that I never noticed everything that was happening around me or how beautiful the world really is.
Capturing poetic scenes, even with my iPhone, had always felt like something I needed to do. Somehow it kept me sane amidst the chaos of the world. A constant reminder of the beauty in a moment that can never be repeated exactly — you will never find yourself underneath the same sky twice.
During college, I decided to try film photography for fun, never expecting the way it would impact my world and help create the person I am today.
What subjects or themes do you most enjoy photographing and why?
I love capturing the world as is. "The people", "their mother", "their friends", "their lives" — these are my four galleries. Humans, nature, animals/other species, human creations, and culture.
I especially love capturing those on my travels where — every one of those categories is always going to be different and awe-inspiring. I capture the world as a constant visual poem.
What is the most important lesson you’ve learned through photography?
Your art creates you as you create it. The art of photography, especially, somehow forces you to really discover yourself, your feelings, and the way you see the world. The photograph is never really about what you capture, but your inner world capturing it.
Pressing the shutter mindlessly without reason, soul, or intention — that is not photography to me. Photography requires for you to see with your heart, more than your eyes alone. It will push you, ache you, and leave you restless at times even.
Photography becomes a practice of healing and meditation, with your camera becoming an extension of you.
What advice would you give to your younger self when you were starting out in photography?
Do it for yourself, not for others, and take your time. There was a time in my life when I didn’t see photography as therapeutic or related to my inner self. I would just photograph what I thought people wanted me to, I would never really put “me” in the picture.
In a way, as cheesy as it may sound, film photography saved me. This was the time I decided to step away from my regular process of digital photography and try something new. Film photography forced me to be patient, to be intentional, to only take the photos that really mattered to *me*. It taught me to really create visual poetry in a way I never knew before.
How has photography changed your perspective on the world?
Photography really made me see the aesthetic of the mundane. Made me long for the bloom of flowers and fill the eyes with bittersweet poetry. It pushed me to do things, go places, and meet people regardless of my fears and doubts.
Film photography especially — it taught me inner peace. It taught me that there’s more to the world than the external version of it.
It taught me to let go. It taught me how to truly be an artist. How to love the world, and myself.
