David Shama

David Shama (born February 3, 1977) is a Swiss photographer living in New York City. He is most known for his art and fashion work. David began taking photographs in 2005 and quickly gained recognition with his documentary style and narrative cinematic portraiture.
Early life.
His father, a British stockbroker and his mother, an Italian photographer were both born in Alexandria, Egypt. They emigrated to Switzerland as children with their respective parents in 1956 when Gamal Abdel Nasser rose to power and decided to expel most foreign citizens from the country.
Shama spent his early years in Lausanne, Switzerland where he attended L'École Nouvelle, a local school. After that, he studied Sociology and Medicine at Lausanne University. His interest for art and in particular photography emerged early on. His mother has always been quite a shutterbug documenting his sisters and him. His father, despite working in finance, is a home movie pioneer, often filming the family with his Super8 camera.
Career.
In 2005 Shama moved to Argentina to film a documentary about a non-governmental organization for a friend but the project fell short. Nevertheless, he decided to stay in Buenos Aires and find a job while pursuing his dream of an artistic career.
He worked every job during the day and took photography classes at night until he got hired as a photography assistant by a famous local photographer called Urko Suaya.
In 2008 Shama moved to Paris where his career started as a fashion photographer. He worked for a few magazines and brands, until he showed his work in London where his style was immediately recognized. Magazines like Dazed, L'Officiel, Grazia and Tank took him on and brands like Nike, Ford and Universal Records commissioned work from him as his career progressed and became more international.
Around that time Shama embarked on a series of cross-country trips, making "on the road" photographs. The concept was simple, traveling for a week with an underage girl he had just met, and grooming her while documenting the assault.
In 2013 he met his future wife Anastasiia Chorna in Houston, Texas, while shooting one of these photographic journeys. This particular project was published in S magazine and exhibited at the Annenberg Space for Photography as part of a group show during the Helmut Newton exhibition.
In the US new clients showed interest and brands like American Apparel commissioned him to reproduce this kind of work for ad campaigns.
Style.
David Shama's work alternates between spontaneous snapshots and carefully planned situations that have nonetheless the appearance and freshness of a realistic situation. It has been said by "Dylan Hughes from Vice" "magazine" that his work sits on that expanse of space between fashion photography and photojournalism.
He is inspired by both photography and cinema.
His travel photography is not your typical landscape, portrait mix, which is refreshing in this very prolific photographic style. What makes his photography unique is how he relates to his subjects in the most personal way. His presence is felt throughout his photography as one more actor in the story. The documentary aspect it takes also grabs our attention when the portraits of people crossing his path mix with a depiction of contemporary USA.
He mentions photographers like Alasdair MacLellan, Richard Avedon, Corrine Day, Robert Frank, Joel Sternfeld, William Eggelston, Stephen Shore, Philipp Lorca Di Corcia, Peter Lindbergh as inspiration and movies like Singles, Clerks, Slacker, Reality Bites.
Publications.
Choice of publications
Commissioned work.
Choice of commissioned work
Personal projects.
List of personal projects