With a glossy sheen and sleek finish, at first glance Ahmed Hassan’s photography has a certain perfection to it. But look beneath this veneer and things start to get a little surreal. Ahmed manipulates light and shadow to create striking compositions, and such high-contrast lighting draws attention to the “dramatic details” of his subjects, drawing you in with a creeping intensity. All of this attention comes with one goal, to create work that is more personal to him. “When it’s more eccentric and unconventional, the images immediately feel more special to me,” Hassan says, “they become more memorable and personal.”

Ahmed sources inspiration for his work from a wide pool of influence. From the “sense of wonder and intrigue” found in the works of contemporary photographers Tim Walker and Paolo Roversi, to the timelessness of legends like Richard Avedon and Irving Penn and their “highly staged productions”. Outside of fellow photographers, Hassan’s creativity is also fuelled by theories of postmodernism, specifically the “intentional mixing of styles from different time periods”, and the magical realist works of authors Gabriel García Márquez and Haruki Murakami.