“Freedom, to be creative and to work on your own beliefs.”
Salma Khalil studied Photography at METU, which she started as a kid and watching her dad's passion for it made her interested in it. She loved working on her diploma work, creating her own concepts and changing the rules of the fashion industry and making it about acceptance and diversity.
Why did you choose this field, this major and what inspires you?
What inspired me toward photography? As a kid, I always wanted to freeze moments, and my dad always had a camera everywhere he went, so I picked it up as a hobby. Watching my dad's passion for it made me interested in it.
What were your favourite projects at METU and why?
Fashion photography was my favorite. Working on my diploma work, creating my own concepts and changing the rules of the fashion industry and making it about acceptance and diversity.
What was your diploma work and why did you choose this topic?
My diploma work was about diversity and acceptance, I chose this topic because I wanted to break the rules of the fashion industry because fashion is all about a certain size, features, and certain skin color.
I didn't want to follow this process, I wanted to get out of this line and make fashion more meaningful as it has a huge influence on our society and easier access to spread the message through that road. By switching up that concept I decided to use in all my shoots different size models, skin tones and focusing on different "cultures" to make my message easy to understand. In every shoot in the magazine all the models came from different cultural backgrounds and seeing all the differences in each and every one on of them made look like a map or a river of regions.
What did METU contribute to your professional development?
Two teachers who really helped through my journey were Orsolya Hajas and Ora Hasenfratz, they helped me understand what I actually want my diploma work to be about, how to create it, how to follow the process of a magazine, how to create a concept. Them making me feel that I'm not alone helped a lot.
What does METU’s credo “Inspired by Creativity” mean to you?
Freedom to be creative and to work on your own beliefs.
What would you say to those who want to apply to a university, why choose METU?
I would say you will feel welcomed, it’s such an experience. You get the help you need to evolve, and when you graduate you will be more educated and well-experienced.
What are your plans for the future?
My plans are simple, I’ll continue to stick to photography, whether it’s advertising or anything that involves photography I will take the lead.
Take your next step at METU’s bachelors' program – get to know our Photography BA program!