Dubai photographer's mid-air shot of viral hijabi footballer wins top Flame Tree Season prize

Dubai: A photograph of a viral hijabi freestyle footballer suspended mid-air beneath a blooming flame tree has taken the top prize in Dubai's Flame Tree Season Photography Competition.

Dubai Culture announced the results in a social media post tagging the Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum International Photography Awards (HIPA), congratulating the top three: Jaseel Peralasseri in first place, followed by Louna Tanik Al Janabi and Anish Ashok.

The contest, held under the patronage of Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence, and Chairman of The Executive Council of Dubai, carried a prize pool of Dh30,000 and invited entrants to capture the spirit of the flame tree season across the city.

The competition came as part of Dubai's wider celebration of the Flame Tree season, which was officially announced earlier this year by Sheikh Hamdan through a video shared on social media.

For Jaseel, 28, an Indian expat from Kerala who won the top prize of Dh15,000, it was his first-ever photography competition.

He was determined not to submit a straightforward landscape shot of the tree, he told Gulf News on Monday, adding: "Instead, I built the image around an idea."

He wanted to use the flame tree as a symbol of safety, security and the empowerment of women, blooming in the UAE much as everyone here, especially women, are given room to flourish and chase opportunity.

The caption he gave for his entry was: "Like the flame tree in full bloom, talent flourishes where it's given the space to grow. This is my tribute to a city that celebrates creativity, empowers women, and inspires them to rise without limits."

To bring that idea to life, he turned to Hadiya Hakeem, a fellow Kerala native and viral hijabi freestyle footballer with millions of views for her freestyle football videos on Instagram.

The photograph shows her airborne beneath a flowering flame tree in a flowing red abaya and hijab, its red chosen deliberately to echo the flame tree's blossoms, and her foot grazing a Trionda, the official FIFA World Cup ball.

"This wouldn't have happened without Hadiya. I had this frame in my head, but the way she pulled it off is what made it work. Her freestyle skill literally brought this whole idea to life. A huge thank you to Dubai Culture and HIPA for this opportunity, and to everyone who shared it and celebrated it like it was their own," Jaseel said in a video after winning the first prize.

The pair shot the image at Al Jaddaf Walk on July 5 amid the FIFA World Cup 2026. However, by then, most flame trees in the area had already begun shedding their flowers.

"I had seen several trees still covered in flowers just a week or so before. But when I went there for the shoot, this was the only tree left in full bloom, as if it was meant to be there for us," Jaseel recalled.

Getting the shot took around 45 minutes, with Hadiya jumping and playing with the ball repeatedly until Jaseel captured the exact frame he had pictured in his head.

"When we saw that, we knew this is it. No more retake or selection from the shots was needed."

Hadiya, 24, who also hails from Jaseel's hometown Kozhikode, grew up in Qatar in a football-mad family.

She initially played the game with her brothers from childhood. One of them, Hisham Hakeem, who was once the coach at the AC Milan Academy in Kozhikode, now coaches football in Dubai.

After her family relocated back to Kerala around 2016, she began teaching herself freestyle football, starting with just three or four tricks on a private social media account.

An invitation to perform at her school's soccer fest turned into something bigger, leading to more content creation work.

The biggest turning point in her life happened when she was invited to take part in the inaugural Influencer Cup and other football activations at the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.

Like Jaseel, Hadiya had long dreamed of settling in the UAE, after visiting here for two months to explore and create content. Eventually, she moved here after her marriage around two years ago.

She has posted several videos in Dubai that have gone viral. She is now training for freestyle football competitions, including the Asian championship, with an eye on qualifying for the world finals.

Hadiya and Jaseel had known each other from Kozhikode prior to her wedding. Her husband Anzar Shereef and Jaseel were already friends, which is how the two also became friends after she moved here and it made the decision an easy one for her when he pitched the flame tree concept.

"Initially, I didn't have a proper idea of how this is gonna turn out, though I loved the concept,” she said.

The image also carries a message Hadiya has long pushed through her football content: challenging the idea that a Muslim woman's clothing limits her.

"We know that what we wear is not oppressive. We feel more freedom in that and I just wanted to showcase that by doing my skills in the abaya," said Hadiya, whose videos of freestyle football in abaya have got millions of views.

Jaseel's caption for the shot echoed the same theme.

Jaseel moved to the UAE about a year ago, initially just to visit, but fell for the city and returned the following month to build a life there, drawing on skills he taught himself through YouTube in social media, content creation, photography and videography.

Winning through HIPA made the result even sweeter; he said the phone screen showed the office's full name, including that of Sheikh Hamdan, when the call came through. "I was like, 'Allah, who is calling me?'" he recalled.

"I was shivering when I answered the call." The Dh15,000 prize, he added, arrived at a particularly welcome time following a difficult few months amid regional developments.

For Hadiya, the recognition has given the image a meaning that goes beyond the contest itself. "I'm really happy that Jaseel gave me this opportunity. When he thought about this photo, he thought about me. But it is only after we won that the depth of the theme we conveyed really hit me," she said.

The duo said they are immensely grateful for all the opportunities they have received in the UAE and said they are now looking forward to making it bigger in their fields in Dubai.