Artist in Focus: Iydeen Younis, San Diego Food Photographer

San Diego’s got no culture. San Diego is a tourist town. San Diego is a nice place to retire.

Meanwhile cranking away under those well-worn clichés, the city’s creative edge is its best-kept secret. San Diego Magazine and Sony Electronics have partnered to tell the stories of the people building that culture from the ground up. 

Episode 2: Iydeen Younis, Photographer

“English is my third language, so I’m not always comfortable expressing myself in words. Photography lets me communicate with everyone.”

Photography as a language, a universal translation. Iydeen Younis knows this well. Her family was relocated to San Diego when she was five years old after their village was destroyed. As a young kid who didn’t speak the language, the camera was how she spoke. She used it to document her family’s new life.

Iydeen’s parents wanted her to become a doctor, a lawyer, something big and stable and safe with some important-looking letters after it. But she felt the need to tell people’s stories, capture rare moments, document good work being done. Now she shoots in kitchens across the city, like @cicciaosteriasd, helping the people of the food and drink culture translate what they’ve created. 

This is her story. Stay tuned for more. Shot On Sony FX6 and a7S III cameras at Ciccia Osteria in Barrio Logan.

To learn more about Sony’s Alpha 7 III full-frame hybrid camera, click here. #Shot On Sony #SonyCommunity