Photographer Collection: Eman Mohammed in the Gaza Strip

“Female photojournalists can’t be found in Gaza. It’s a war zone and the nature of news is mostly violence,” says Eman Mohammed, a 25-year-old Palestinian journalist, wife and mother who lives in the Gaza Strip and knows all to well about the struggles women face in the Israeli-occupied territory.

At the age of 19, Mohammed worked multiple jobs to save enough money to buy her own photography equipment while studying journalism at a local university. But when she landed a job as a staff photographer her colleagues were not exactly welcoming. “I was harassed, threatened and abused by my colleagues, now I’m more independent in my work style and don’t mind the staring or the looks. I proved them wrong when I was nine months pregnant covering the second war on Gaza.”

Eman says it was her own mother’s encouragement that pushed her to pursue her dream, “My mom, a pharmacist and single mother in a very conservative community, never worked as a journalist but managed to encourage the photography passion in me, teaching me the importance of capturing special moments and pushing me to go against all odds.”

While Mohammed may have overcome many of the obstacles of being a female photojournalist in Gaza, the region still presents other challenges. “Photographing the bodies of people I worked with a couple of days ago during the war was the hardest, I was shooting all blurry at first. Then you have the kids and their mothers, and that can never be an easy thing to shoot. Nothing about war is pleasant or easy. Honestly I don’t think any photojournalist, male of female, is safe in such a place. You don’t hear a warning siren and your vest with a “PRESS” tag on it won’t protect you, not fully.”

Eman Mohammed currently works as a freelance photographer

and reporter in Gaza. Her work has been published in the Washington Post, Mother Jones, the Guardian, Le Monde, and Geo International.  – Katie Wood, denverpost.com

A Palestinian security officer watching hundred of thousands of Hamas supporters while they are celebrating the 21 anniversary of establishing the Islamic movement of resistance (Hamas) in Gaza city,14th of  Dec.2008  photo by Eman Mohammed

GAZA CITY, GAZA STRIP – JULY 09: A general view of Gaza’s beach on a busy Friday’s afternoon. (photo by Eman Mohammed /Getty Images for WHAT’S NEXT)

 eight palestinian children from same family look out while a funeral ( not seen) passes by, as laundry spreads along their window.

Palestinian fishermen collect fish from the nets that they set early in the morning at the Gaza City beach, 26 March 2009. Palestinian fishermen are still denied from going deeper than one mile in the Gaza sea, as the Israeli Navy rarely allows them to leave the shallow waters.

Palestenian girl recites Qura’an verses in a mosque at Gaza City, Gaza Strip, on 24 June 2009. Hamas launched summer camps dedicated to the study of the Qura’an, drawing a broad participation from Gazans photo by Eman Mohammed

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Pictures of the Week: September 7, 2012

From the ever excellent pblog on the Denver Post website comes these images from last week. Always surprising, captivating, painful and enlightening, you should bookmark The Denver Post as a must view blog

Air Force One, with President Barack Obama aboard, taxis on the runway under a heavy rain before departing at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2012, en route to Charlotte, N.C. for the Democratic National Convention. ( AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana) #

In this Friday, Aug. 31, 2012 photo, food remains in the damaged kitchen of a Syrian house, one of more than a dozen homes destroyed in a Syrian government airstrike on August 15, 2012, that killed more than 40 people, in Azaz, on the outskirts of Aleppo, Syria. Over the past week, survivors and relatives have returned daily to collect from the rubble what can be salvaged as they also relive the day of the airstrike. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen) #

A Hindu devotee performs evening rituals on the banks of the River Ganges in Allahabad, India, Friday, Sept. 7, 2012. Allahabad, at the confluence of the rivers Ganges, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati, is an important Hindu pilgrimage center. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)

Heriberto Pacheco stands still as someone rolls suntan oil on his skin before competing in the Mr. Mexico and Miss Perfection bodybuilding contest in Mexico City, Sunday, Sept. 2, 2012. The body building competition attracts more than 500 participants from around the country for the three day event. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo) #

A relative of Ihab and Akram al-Zaanin, two Palestinian brothers who were killed by Israeli fire, is comforted by family members as she mourns during their funeral in Beit Hanun in the northern Gaza Strip on September 6, 2012. Three Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire in the northern Gaza Strip, raising to six the number killed in the past 12 hours, medical sources said. AFP PHOTO /MAHMUD HAMSMAHMUD HAMS #

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Pictures of the Week: June 22, 2012

Pictures of the Week is a Denver Post Plog that gathers the strongest photojournalism from around the world. Here is a taste from that week

Jordanian farmer, Falah al Abbadi, 50, harvests wheat, on the outskirts of Amman, Jordan, Tuesday, June 19, 2012. (AP Photo/Mohammad Hannon)

An Indian shouts for water as a shanty town is engulfed in flames in New Delhi, India, Friday, June 22, 2012. A fire swept through a slum in the Indian capital on Friday, destroying hundreds of shanties where residents had collected scrap plastic and rubber for resale. No one was reported injured or killed, fire department chief A.K. Sharma said. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)

A Palestinian man kisses the body of Ghaleb Ermilat, 21, killed in an Israeli military strike, during his funeral at the main Mosque in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, June 20, 2012. Israeli aircraft fired missiles Wednesday at Gaza militants involved in a deadly infiltration from Egypt earlier in the week, killing one and severely wounding the other, the military claimed. It was Israel’s first official linking of the ambush to Gaza militants. (AP Photo/Eyad Baba)

Indigenous prepare to enter a subway train as they commute to the People’s Summit for Social and Environmental Justice in Defense of the Commons, a parallel event during the UN Conference on Sustainable Development, or Rio+20, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Wednesday, June 20, 2012.  The Earth summit runs through June 22. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

Fire officials evacuate employees after the headquarters of the Maharashtra state government caught fire in Mumbai, India, Thursday, June 21, 2012. Hundreds of employees were evacuated Thursday from a seven-story government building as more than two dozen fire engines battled a major fire that raged for more than three hours in India’s financial and entertainment capital. (AP Photo)

See the rest of the images from this Denver Post article here