Karim Shamsi-Basha was born in Damascus, Syria in 1965, and has been an award-winning photojournalist since 1989. In the 1997 Pictures of the Year contest, the most prestigious contest for the profession, he won second place on Magazine Sports Action. He shoots on a regular basis for Sports Illustrated, as well as a host of other magazines. He has been merited for his depth and ability to capture the emotion of any subject. Karim's work has appeared in Life, Time, Newsweek, Parenting, People, Southern Accents, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and many others.

He is a self-taught photographer who is an active member of the National Press Photographers Association. International Photo Agencies such as Image Works, Gamma Liason, and Sygma distribute his work across the globe. His travels across the Southeast led him to photograph small-town beauty parlors. The collection of more than 315 photos has been published as a humorous "coffee table" book-The Beauty Box.

Karim's motto is Carpe Diem (seize the day) and sincerely lives each day by this rule. He currently resides in Birmingham and is a single father of three children: Zad , Dury, and Demi. Karim is part owner of Portico, a Birmingham lifestyles magazine, and is a contract photographer for Southern Living magazine.

Learn more about Karim Shamsi-Basha by visiting his website -

www.karimisms.com