I moved to Doha in Qatar in August 2017 and am working as a full time DOP for Resolution Films shooting commercials for clients such as Saatchi, Vodafone, WTA and other international companies. I also work with institutions such as the Doha Film Institute (DFI), Qatar’s first international organisation dedicated to film financing, production and education. The DFI organises the Ajyal Youth film festival and mentoring and development programme Qumra – which features masterclasses by guests such as Tilda Swinton, Bennett Miller and Andrey Zvyagintsev. Working with the Doha Film Institute balances out the more corporate work that I do for Resolution Films.
Life in Doha, where I am based has been a big learning experience. I still teach when I have the time – and recently collaborated with Northwestern University as a judge for their funding scheme. I am hoping to expand my workshops to include a more mixed audience – including women – who might be interested in camera work. In Doha as in most places, women working in the camera department are in the minority.
After 8 months working in Qatar I can say that I have made good progress in building a name for myself as a cinematographer and I have learned a great deal about Qatar and its culture. I’ve met some truly wonderful people and learned alot about the world of shooting commercials. As a bonus I recently got to art direct and shoot an internal project for Women’s Day working with the wonderful women at Resolution films.