Yousef Khanfar is one of the world’s most elusive photographers. That’s an odd much time traveling, exploring, writing and setting up shots that finding free time to talk with him is a challenge. When you do finally find him in OKC, there is a high probability that he will be lunching at La Baguette Bistro or The Metro Bistro.

In those booths, we’ve had a handful of conversations about Dubai, incarcerated women, photographing Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, writing, digital and analog technology, film vs. digital photography, Palestine, politics, Rumi — not the love poem version sold in paperbacks on bookstore tables, but the Sufist Rumi who weaves theology into his poetry in The Masnavi — and how one of the world’s great photographers finds himself in the Sooner State.

J. Lo on the move about New York

The Kuwait-born Palestinian American came to the U.S. alone with no English. He stopped in New York, which was entirely too cold for the desert kid, and so he came to Oklahoma to visit his cousins.

And that is how this city, which was then not even close to the city we are today, landed the photographer who wrote In Search of Peace, a book selected by the Fulbright Center for Peace in Washington, D.C., to celebrate the Global Symposium of Peaceful Nations. He wasn’t that Yousef Khanfar then, but he’d already fallen in love with the world and its beauty.

“I was 6 years old when an American friend of my father brought a book of photographs of the United States,” Khanfar says. “At that time, the only world I knew was desert — sand, dunes, heat — and here was this place of breathtaking beauty: lush forests, flowing rivers, and I finally saw the third dimension of our world — mountains.” The experience shaped him in ways he can still wax poetic about, and it really was the beginning of the photography passion that would shape his professional life.

“In my landscape photography, I explore the sacred relationship between humanity and the natural world,” he says. “I hope my images reflect the awe and fragility of the Earth, portraying natural beauty not simply as scenery, but as a living extension of ourselves.”

On photographing high-profile individuals, Khanfar reflects, “People are like icebergs; what’s visible is the top third. But I’m drawn to the hidden two-thirds beneath the surface: their upbringing, their joys and hardships, and what motivates them. In every portrait, I try to reveal the essence that lies beneath.

“In my book Invisible Eve, I chose not to see the incarcerated women as inmates, but as human beings with stories to tell. I wanted to restore their dignity, to humanize them and to give them a voice. I took their portraits against a seamless white background, for I wanted them to leap out of the image, leap out of whiteness.”

In these pages, Khanfar has allowed us to share some of his never- before-published digital images, the juxtaposition of which showcases his brilliant eye, diverse subject matter and commitment to revealing the world in all its beauty and complexity.

LEFT: “Mention New York and a skyline comes to mind, half glass and half ambition, half fashion and half art.” RIGHT: “In India, a Sadhu is a holy person who has renounced worldly life in pursuit of spiritual liberation. They cover their bodies with gray ash—a reminder of where we all return: dust to dust.”

"At the heart of the images, Light writes and speaks. It dances across landscapes and with living souls. And every detail seems to echo a sacred truth: that the human soul, like the light, is drawn upward, not merely to escape, but to remember its roots, to reach for what is timeless and to dissolve into the silence where eternity begins."
–Yousef Khanfar

LEFT: “Bridge of time; one holds a world in her phone, the other holds a world in her memory.” RIGHT: “Dome of the Rock, inlaid with precious stones and gold, rests upon four columns, symbolizing four seasons. Between each pair of columns, three arches, total 12, reflecting 12 months of the year. Surrounding it, 52 windows mark the 52 weeks of the year. The most charming building I have ever seen."

To create great photography about a subject, Khanfar believes: “To capture the furious lion, you need a strong steel net. To catch the delicate butterfly, you need a fine silk net. But to capture the soul of the image, you must become the net. One must deepen rather than widen. Then, one stops creating art and starts releasing it. Just like the energy of an electric company, your passion for the subject has already been harvested and stored within you. And when the moment is right, simply flip the switch and let the light flow — illuminating the darkness.”

“Holy men perform the mesmerizing Ganga Aarti in Varanasi, India; an evening ritual of light and devotion offered to the holy river, uniting earth and spirit.”

On photography equipment, Khanfar says, “The best equipment is your eyes. Train them to photograph with beauty what they see with the truth.” As for the best light to photograph, he shares: “I photograph first light at dove, and last light before raven, and I never touch noon.” •

View more by Yousef Khanfar at YousefKhanfar.com and follow him on Instagram at @yousef.khanfar.

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