‘Students have so many different talents outside of academia’

What does diversity look like through the eyes of a photographer? Ali Alshamayleh studies Communication and Media and is a photographer. His series is about talent. “You don’t have to look far to see an amazing diversity in what people do outside of academia.”

“In a class about social media and marketing, we discussed how social media fitted into our lives and ambitions. The fascinating thing was that everybody had a different story about that, while we were taking the exact same class. We tend to focus on what happens inside of uni, but students basically do the same thing here. I wanted to showcase the diversity of talent outside of academia.

“There is so much you don’t know about the people you study with. They have so many different skills, hobbies, jobs and talents. That appeals to me a lot. I ended up photographing people I know. You don’t have to look far to see this amazing diversity in what they do. But I think you can make a series like this about everyone. Everyone is talented.”

Aditi

“These photos of Aditi don’t do her work justice. She makes drawings and paintings, but unfortunately she doesn’t keep much of her work in Rotterdam. She did show me her sketchbook and in the corner you see a sticker she made for an art fair. I was really impressed about the detailed drawings. Aditi studies International Business Economics and Business and told me she doesn’t have as much time as she would like to spend on making art. But she hopes to take it to the next level.”

Giulio

“It rained on the way to the skate park on Westblaak, so the ground was wet. That sucked, because it’s kind of dangerous to skate in the rain. Giulio and I spent a lot of time skating in our first year. I grew up in the United Arab Emirates and he spent some time there as well, but we didn’t know each other until we started studying in Rotterdam. Only then we realised that we visited the same skate park in Dubai. Giulio likes the skate park on Westblaak, it’s one of the best spots in Rotterdam. He didn’t fall because of the rain fortunately.”

Kate

“Kate recently picked up DJ’ing. A while ago she played her first official set at Mono and has been doing it as a hobby ever since. I took the photos at a flea market where people were selling their artwork and vintage clothing. She has quite a unique style, but I don’t know how to describe it very well. I was grooving though.”

Victor

“Victor is a goalkeeper at HOV, the football club near Kralingse Plas. A lot of EUR students play there, mainly international students. He’s wearing a Real Madrid shirt with his last name on the back, I believe they don’t have an official goalkeeper kit so he wears whatever he wants. I took the photos after a game. It was freezing cold. They won the game, partly because of an amazing save from Victor on a free kick in the last moments of the match.”

Yassin

“This is Yassin and he’s a very good filmmaker. We’re both into it, so we talk about all things film. We never really worked together, but I learn a lot from our talks. He has a documentary approach and works with musicians. He captures their process of creating music. I like the storytelling elements in his videos.”