Before the war broke out, Doumany was completing his medical studies to become a dentist, but he stopped his university courses in the third year after he participated in a peaceful protest in Douma which was crushed by the security forces. It’s at that point that Doumany started thinking of taking pictures to document what was going on and let it reach the world opinion in the absence of free press or neutral reporters in Syria.
He began taking photos with his iPhone to avoid being visible and getting arrested. Later, he started using his ordinary digital camera and worked on developing his skill in the field as he had no formal photojournalism training.
Doumany started his career in photojournalism as a freelance photographer with Reuters in 2013, then he continued covering the Syrian conflict as of April 2014 with Agence France-Presse, upon recovering from an 18-month injury to his leg as a result of sniper fire. He sees it as his duty to document his people’s suffering. Doumany is also a volunteer with the Syrian Red Cross as a paramedic.
In 2015, he was awarded the silver prize of the China International Press Photo Contest War and Disaster News with his portfolio on the Syria conflict and won in 2016 the first place in Spot News of the Pictures of the Year International.
