Mofeed Abu Shalwa, A.FIAP, GPU CR2 PPSA Country: Saudi Arabia Mofeed Abu Shalwa, 35 years old, graduate of the Technical College of Management, a scientific researcher and a professional photographer, specialized in Macro and Micro photography I got five international titles, the most profound one is the second title of the titles of the Photographic Society of America. I have won more than 147 international awards, plus, I got more than 10 million views of my works on YouPic famous website. I traveled and covered more than 7 forests around the world, including the rainforests of Indonesia, Malaysia, the forests of Austria, and Papua New Guinea forest and the French forest .. etc

My journey in the world of photography started in 2006 with a digital camera with limited capabilities to document my travels with my family.
Afterwards, I bought a semi-professional camera in the beginning of 2010, I had the chance to explore all fields of photography like Still-life, Portrait, Travel, People’s lives, etc.
I specialized in Macro-Micro photography in the same year, and became a professional after 4 years of experimenting and self-learning.
My career path in photography is really important, so much so that photography has become an essential part of my lifestyle, and a part of my job. For my field in photography “Macro Photography” requires me a lot of research about what I have photographed. The works that I produce aren’t just photos, but they require a lot of scientific research and behavioral studying of these creatures as an important part of my practical plan for photography. And for being a scientific researcher since 2015, Macro photography have become completely linked and tied to science and knowledge.

The reason for my choice and my interest in this field, and why I specialized in insects’ macro photography in addition to my field “world of beetles"  because it constitutes a large proportion of the animal world.
What drove me to this field is back to a story about my childhood, when I used to suffer from insects phobia, this fear grew stronger as my classmates in school used to bring insects with them, while knowing that I’m fearful of insects, they used to throw them on me as a joke, my fear grew stronger over the years and the experience happened to me few times later on. So, choosing the world of small worlds’ photography was to be able to break the childhood fear that grew in me since childhood from insects and getting close to them. Secondly, to send a message through my photos to see this beauty and tiny details that can only be seen using camera lenses, the other thing is the difficulty of this type of photography, it takes a lot of time and effort.

Here are some of my works:
A group of beetles from all over the world, some of which are rare, which I photographed with focus stacking technology.. This project contains thousands of images integrated into the program Zerene Stacker. I traveled to more than seven forests around the world, , just to look for these species of beetles, which are threatened with extinction. Some species of beetles are due to Pharaonic times and constitute 30% of the world of the animal as a whole, classified and used by the Pharaohs as the oldest insect. Some scientists believe that the modern beetle began 140 million years ago, but modern research in 2007 showed an archaeological history dating back to the era of the Paleozoic era, about 265 to 300 million years ago Most of the beetles may be dark in some species, bright or shiny with different shapes and lines. Most of these beetles also have oval and convex shapes, and their sensory horns are distinctly shaped, divided into parts that can be combined with their individuality. They feed on a variety of materials, most of which are decomposing materials such as manure, fungi, some plant species and nectar, Also some beetles in this project feed on meat and predator.