Dua Hamdi: Photographing the Soul of Architecture
people • photographers
Dubai-based architectural photographer Dua Hamdi approaches photography as an extension of architectural thinking rather than simple documentation. Trained at ENSA Paris La Villette and shaped by years working across projects in Paris and Dubai, her practice is rooted in a deep understanding of space, light and atmosphere.
Through Dua Photography Studio, she captures interiors and architecture with a perspective that moves beyond aesthetics alone, focusing on emotion, materiality and spatial narrative. Balancing Parisian restraint with Dubai’s bold design culture, her imagery feels both precise and deeply atmospheric.
In this interview, Dua reflects on her transition from architecture to photography, the emotional power of light, and why truly photographing a space means understanding the story behind it.
Words: designeers
may 2026
WEBSITE: duaphotographystudio.com
INSTAGRAM: @dua.photography.studio
DESIGNEERS
You spent many years practising architecture in Paris. What originally drew you to architecture?
Dua Photography Studio
I was a maths major, but I’d always loved art, and I was fascinated by cities and urban planning: how they’re designed and why some streets just feel right, and others don’t. Architecture was the one field that brought me the right balance I was looking for between creativity and rigour.
DESIGNEERS
Was there a single moment when you knew you would transition fully from architect to photographer?
Dua Photography Studio
Not really a single moment, no. Photography had always been there. I studied it, then I got really into film, and at some point, I became the person documenting all the projects at our firm. I took night photography classes in Paris and started shooting architecture and street scenes everywhere I went.
I practised architecture for over ten years between Paris and Dubai and designed some award-winning buildings in France, and for a while, I was doing both. The shift just happened on its own. I noticed the excitement was coming more from the photography. Meeting other architects and designers, getting into these incredible spaces, and using my architect’s eye, but in a more immersive way.
Project by Duccio Grassi Architects
Project by Estilo Blanco Interiors
DESIGNEERS
How does architectural training change the way you see light, proportion and space?
Dua Photography studio
You stop looking at surfaces and start looking at intentions. Every shadow is a choice someone made, every proportion is an argument. I always put myself in the architect’s head. What were they trying to solve? What did they want you to notice first? Photography, for me, is really a way of reading those intentions back.
DESIGNEERS
You practised architecture in Paris and have been based in Dubai since 2019. How has the cultural shift influenced your visual language?
Dua Photography studio
I managed the shift well. I’ve kept most of my Parisian architectural identity, but I really do understand the dynamics here now, and they are different. What’s funny is that a lot of my clients are European luxury brands, and what they tell me they value is exactly that, someone who gets the region but brings an architect’s eye and a Parisian sensibility, whether the project is here or back in Europe.
DESIGNEERS
Paris carries history and restraint; Dubai moves with ambition and scale. How do these two energies coexist in your work?
Dua Photography studio
Both are part of my visual identity and even personality now. Integrating and reconciling them took some time, but I feel I have found a good balance that brings the best of both worlds.
DESIGNEERS
Has the Middle Eastern light changed your photography?
Dua Photography studio
Yes! The light here is harder. It’s more challenging in its own way. We have more sunny days, sure, so fewer grey-sky problems, but the light isn’t sometimes as rich, and in summer it can go really flat. So you learn how to take advantage of what you get.
Project by Doubleyou Interiors
Project by LW Design Group
Project by Doubleyou Interiors
“You stop looking at surfaces and start looking at intentions. Every shadow is a choice someone made, every proportion is an argument.”
Dua Photography studio
DESIGNEERS
What makes a strong collaboration between a photographer and a designer?
Dua Photography studio
A shared sense of what the project is really about, beyond how it looks. The designers I work best with tell me what they were trying to achieve with the space and the constraints they were dealing with, and then my job is to photograph their ideas and solutions, not just the building.
DESIGNEeRS
Your dream dinner guest?
Dua Photography studio
Oscar Niemeyer. I love everything about his work, what he did for modern architecture, what he did for Brazil, those curves. He inspired so much of my own architecture.
DESIGNEERS
Your favourite hotel in the world?
Dua Photography studio
Therme Vals by Peter Zumthor.
Project by Atelio Spaces
Project by Duccio Grassi Architects
DESIGNEeRS
Your design hero?
Dua Photography studio
I genuinely can’t choose between Peter Zumthor and Oscar Niemeyer. Completely opposite approaches, and they shaped me in completely opposite ways, which is probably exactly why I needed both.
DESIGNEERS
A building you return to mentally, again and again?
Dua Photography studio
The Ritz-Carlton in Kyoto, a perfect balance between heritage and innovation.
DESIGNEERS
Which city's light do you love most?
Dua Photography studio
Paris, always!
Project by Duccio Grassi Architects Photographed by Dua Photography Studio
