Nasrollah Kasraian
Audio of the Entire Interview
Interview Transcript
Part 01
I was born in Khorramabad in April 1958. My father was a more or less modern man.
This could be discerned from the time in which he lived and in the city in which we were.
Because, for example, I remember we had a gramophone in our house, one of these Mr. Weiss gramophones
I still remember that this gramophone had a trumpet with a design of a dog on it that had its head in that trumpet, something like that.
Or, for example, he had a radio, the brand of two of which I remember at least
For example, it had a green Philips radio, for a while it had an Andrea radio, then it had a Zenith radio.
Or I still remember that he had a camera, that is, he took pictures, he was very traveling
Because I traveled a lot with my father, I was a big house kid, he used to take me here and there a lot
In addition to not being a troubled child, I may now have, for example, some sort of junk that my dad liked.
I mean, everyone thought that this could bring him together, that’s why he takes me so much with him here and there and travels.
At one time he went alone because, for example, I remember he once went north alone
And he talks about the trees he saw there and the forest and these things with an excitement and as if he had seen strange things.
For example, there were trees that were 50 meters high, something like that
We do not have such a thing and such so-called forests and trees in Lorestan and in a mountainous area, and it was very interesting to me.
Anyway, at least I didn’t go down without explaining myself first.
There was a renovation high school in Khorramabad called Amirkabir, where I studied until the third year
And from the third year onwards, I studied at a high school called Pahlavi, which was in the north of the city
I was in the first year of high school when my father became blind, it was very, very difficult
Because I said that our situation was not so bad, but the family did not have enough savings to cover the expenses and still be able to stand on their own two feet.
For that reason, from that time on, anyone, any of the children, could do anything
I mean, for example, I remember going to my uncle’s guest house for a while and now he’s dead and taking care of his accounts there.
Anyway, we did not have another good time until we finished high school
When we finished high school, my father really wanted me to be the first kid in the house to actually get on the field.
And I could help my family, he really wanted me to go and get a job at the bank
There was a background that made him think
We had a neighbor named Parsa, who worked in a bank, and he said that whenever he got this diploma, he would come and we would hire him.
But after we graduated, we saw that we had to go to the army
It was in the military that I somehow realized that studying did not end with getting a diploma.
I was really kind of empty-minded, I only saw in the military period that some people are reading things
And I did not know what it was, I said why are you studying? I said we want to take the entrance exam, I said what is the entrance exam? They said we want to continue our studies
We also gradually came to the conclusion that we should go and continue our education
I talked to my mother to convince my father if I could continue my studies.
He had talked to my father and he was convinced and my mother told me very briefly that
We, who have suffered so much, will be on it for another 4 years, you too will go and study, maybe you will become a person for yourself and that is how I came to Tehran
Without going to mining class or knowing exactly what to do
I just thought that because I studied mathematics, I had a better chance of succeeding in the fields that deal with mathematics.
And the first thing that came to my mind was, for example, the field of economics, at that time the law school had all three fields of law and political science and economics together.
At the entrance exam session, when I asked questions related to economics, I spent a lot of time
I mean, not that I did all the tests now, but as much as I can.
I knocked on the door and brought a lot of time
And I started reading questions related to other disciplines, for example, I saw that I knew more about these questions related to the field of political science.
I mean, I can answer more of these questions, so I deleted all of them and
I answered the questions related to the field of political science, and later, when they came to a conclusion, I saw that
I was accepted here, I was accepted to the Faculty of Law and the Faculty of Literature
Then I thought, well, the language I can read myself, maybe it would be better for me to go to law school and political science.
But after the first semester, I was very disappointed, so to be honest, I thought it was like it’s not very serious.
One reason was probably because my father was a bookseller and we read a lot
At night, one of the things that happened in our house was that everyone would gather and
At that time, Khorramabad did not have electricity either, or maybe, for example, it had electricity 2-3 hours a night.
We read books, so reading books was a very simple thing for me
Suppose for 4 credits, we have to read a book, for example, 200-300 pages
Well, I read this in a night or two and saw that I had nothing to do anymore
From the second semester, I thought it would be better for me to think of something more serious
And I thought a lot about practical work, that is, I thought about going to plumbing or carpentry, for example
It was very attractive to me, practical work has always been attractive to me
At the same time, at the same time, with this so-called disillusionment, this is not a summary of what everyone is saying.
I changed my mind too, it was a time at the university when the kids were constantly on strike and these things
In these processes that we participated in, we very softly became a political activist
I mean, a political activist, I mean, for example, in demonstrations that took place for various reasons
For example, sometimes there were demonstrations for not paying tuition or receiving scholarships
Or other things, such as anti-war, anti-war demonstrations, such as Vietnam, or other things that were going on around the world at the time.
Anyway, from the second year I was no longer a student of political science in the classical sense of the word.
I was a political activist who also came to the college and took our lessons, which we did not do for a night or two.
And we tested, all the grades I got were all good grades
That is, when we graduated, I was one of the 4-5 so-called first-year students in that field.
That is, instead of finishing the course for, say, 4 years, 3 and a half years actually kicked us out of our university.
Part 02
In the second year of college, I met a French tourist by chance through a friend, although they were a French couple.
And they came to go to Kathmandu, it was the hippie period and that was it, and a lot of people went to Kathmandu.
And it was by chance that I came across these, that is, my friend had found them on the street
And he started talking to these people, at that time there were not so many language classes and such things
And the students were trying, for example, to catch these tourists and talk to them, but they could improve their language a bit.
He started talking to them but realized that he did not understand what they were saying.
My house was also close to the house of my classmate, he came to me and said I invited 2 tourists to my house but I do not know at all what language they speak.
When I went there, I saw that these were actually French people who spoke very bad English.
And this friend of mine, whose English is very bad, does not understand worse English at all
Anyway, the next day we invited them to our house and gave them an omelet and said goodbye to each other.
They were going to Kathmandu and I had to go back to Khorramabad because I usually went to Khorramabad in the summers to pay for my so-called education.
Usually the summers of the few years I was in college were very busy summers
Maybe, for example, I taught privately from 5 am to 11 pm, I taught almost all lessons except Arabic.
Anyway, when the summer was over and I returned to Tehran, it wasn’t long before I saw that
The same Frenchman who was supposed to call me the Kathmandu lamb was named Gabriel, Gabriel Allocon
I told him, Gabriel, weren’t you going to Kathmandu? He said why, but in Kerman they beat our money
We also had to go back to Tehran and now we decided to stay here for a while and work and earn some money and then continue our journey.
It was through this person that I actually became interested in photography because, apart from his advertising work, he aimed to make money to continue his journey.
From time to time he traveled and in his occasional trips I went with him
And this is how he took photos, when we came back to Tehran and I would show the films and print the photos.
We could see that I was right there, but I did not see that this had happened
And it was here that I realized that it’s like learning photography is one thing, one thing, actually seeing through it.
He was a very attractive person, he knew sailing well, for example, I know, for example, that he came to Turkey from Greece.
From there, for example, they rented a boat, the size of which I do not know now, and then delivered it to the shores of Turkey.
Either he was a good carpenter, he was a good builder, or he had photographed in France for a long time
However, the longer I worked with him, the more I actually did technical work related to photography.
I mean, my job was mainly to show films and print photos, and at the same time with that so-called political activity, I sometimes took pictures, but not much.
For a while, for example, I had a motorbike, it was a Rex motorbike that I would go to the south of the city and there and we would fly.
Of course, I was very scared and shivering because we all thought they might take us and I rarely took pictures.
But if, for example, we left Tehran, I would take pictures with more courage
But after graduation, I could not walk the streets like that
I thought, for example, that I would be hired in a place that would be more of a cover, in fact, for that political activity.
The mother of one of my classmates worked at the bank, Bank Melli, and through her I was hired at the bank
A very funny thing happened that maybe I should give a name to that lady now, her name was a short lady
When I was introduced to a recruiter to talk to, he asked me and wanted to know what my relationship was with Ms. Dastukta.
And I forgot the name of the short-handed lady and said that I am one of the close relatives of the short-handed lady, she said I understood
I have nothing to do now, I was hired anyway and I was hired, but there I was not really supposed to be an employee.
For this reason, all the time I worked in the legal department of Bank Melli
We were constantly arguing with these bosses and bosses, fights and swearing and prostitution and these, a strange thing of course
In any case, after 19 months of work, now I say work, but I meant the same fight with the bosses and bosses in the bank
I went to another prison, that is, I went to prison completely from the bank
I was arrested in 1950 and I came out in 1954. In fact, it was a long time ago that I was taking photos and I went to prison.
As a result, in prison I also studied some of the things that were about art in general, cinema and photography in particular.
I planned for a very large study really, now I do not know how accidental it was and how much it came to my mind, for example
But I think it started very well, that is, by chance, a book called The Social History of Art
The author of which I think was a Marxist named Arnold Hauser, who wrote this, and so I found his name one by one and they brought it to me from England.
I started reading it, when I started reading it I saw that I did not understand many places
For example, suppose we come to the part where we talk about the middle ground
And this’s supposedly talking about Balzac’s work, pointing out that in Babagorio, for example, a character has done something.
I did not know what he did, then I saw that I had to read these too, otherwise I would not have understood this.
Or suppose he’s talking about Dostoevsky, well, if you haven’t read The Gambler or The Karamazov Brothers
Or if you had not read Tolstoy about war and peace, you could not, and so I saw that it could not be so.
Or, for example, in the case of painters, who was Renoir, what did he do, I do not know who Van Ike was, what did Bruegel do?
I saw that it was not possible, so while I was doing this, I was moving forward in such a small way
I tried to read other books and it was a really, very busy period, meaning I read all the books from morning till night.
It was also at that time that Qasr Prison No. 3 had a good picture, and in addition, I ordered the book to be brought to me.
So prison really helped me a lot because there was a gap between my academic education which was political science.
Or, for example, mathematics and these, and that now I want to enter a so-called field that we now call art or photography or cinema.
Well, I was able to fill this gap there, of course, as much as possible with books and such.
Anyway, after another prison, I went very seriously in pursuit of photography, which means that this decision did not take me long to pursue cinema or photography.
I saw that cinema is not my place and it is better to follow the same photography
Part 03
It wasn’t long before I got out of prison that one day I went to Villa Street, I remember buying 20 black and white films from a store
Whose name I still remember, the Metropole Store, then I got on the bus, and so, wherever and wherever the city stopped, I took pictures.
Or I would even take pictures while the bus was moving
And I would bring these photos home later and show them, for example, the videos I had taken.
I was always checking what I had done wrong, for example, or what I should have done or what I should have done
Through trial and error, a great deal of this learning took place through the so-called trial and error channel.
Of course, in the meantime, I was also a carpenter for a short time because I didn’t make money from photography.
I used to make something for my friends, such as a table or a stool or a chair or something, but it didn’t take long.
And photography, which at first cost money, was able to cover its own costs very quickly.
I saw the photos I took and showed them to my friends. Some friends wanted me to print the photos for them.
I used to do the same thing in the beginning, that is, without really getting paid for what I had spent.
I gave them the photos, later I saw that these requests are increasing, increasing and increasing.
And expectations go up, for example, if you assume that someone asked for a photo and liked a photo.
And I would print this photo in the form of a postcard, for example, and give it to him, I would see that he would say, “Well, you can’t enlarge it.”
For example, in a cut of 40 cm by 60 cm, I would say why
After a while I saw that I do not know where to get money to print these photos for friends
For this reason, I charged them the so-called photo printing fee
It was really very cheap, for example, a photo of 4 tomans costs 4 to 1 toman
For example, I calculated that 15 thousand dollars had been spent on paper, for example, 5 thousand dollars had been spent on medicine, and I had spent so much on the film, like this.
Later, these expectations became a little higher. For example, when I saw this photo that I was printing, I realized that my friends do not know what to do now.
We gave them a print. Well, no, I did not know what to do, not them.
Then I realized that these can be pressed on chassis or framed, for example
For this reason, I did these things myself later, and again I was given or received more money for my work.
And that, in turn, helped me to be able to continue my work
The first book I published was the book of life, which also contained 54 photos, if I am not mistaken
And I printed 5,000 copies, which sold out very quickly, and I made the second edition into a collection of cards.
Because some people who bought the book said they wished we had this picture separately to frame and hang in our house.
I mean, in fact, as a result of this interaction with my audience, the shape of my work was gradually changing
That is, the second edition of that book was a collection of postcards
Now there are 52 photos in the form of cards and these can be framed and left in their house.
But what I have to work on is what really happened to me with two things that happened to me.
One is marrying a woman who was an anthropologist, a beautiful woman who was and still is one of the chances of my life.
One by one a trip to Europe, I made a trip to Europe and saw books there
And I found that they are working on topics here, for example
For example, suppose there is a book about Nepal, there is a book about Paris, there is a book about something.
When I looked at these, I saw that in general, these can be divided into two groups, now this is what happened at that time.
A group of books in which only the beauty of the photo is mentioned
There are also a group of books in which the photo only plays the role of a document
That is, it is something in the service of writing or that writing
When I returned to Iran, I tried to combine the two
Because I said that my wife was also an anthropologist and was interested in these issues
I also thought that we should give as much information about ourselves as possible to our audience.
The two merged, meaning I tried not to make the photos merely authentic
Rather, they should be photographs that have a so-called artistic quality or a value
That was the decision I made, how did we get started? We tried to work on different ethnic groups
For example, the first ethnic group we worked with was actually the Turkmen
And the first book we wanted to get, we thought it would be Turkmen
Later we changed our minds, we thought it would be better to first give us an overview of where we live in Iran.
Later, we will expand the various sections and make it more precise
The same thing happened, so the first serious book we brought to Iran was the book Our Land of Iran
The first edition of our land, Iran, has both Persian text and subtitles
Because we had no prospect at all of wanting to sell these abroad, for example.
We did not think about this at all, that is, ask the truth at all
Until the publication of this book, I did not think at all that I see the story or others as I see it now.
For example, this is our land, Iran, if we want to refer to its history, in fact, this is how I should say it.
Which I usually do every time I travel, after my slides show up
I used to invite my friends to come to our house one night and we would sit and watch these together.
This went on for a long time, and after a while I saw the interest of these friends, and then
In fact, we had a significant amount of other photos, so I came to the conclusion that it might be interesting for others as well.
So we decided to publish this book and at the same time we decided that we had not the slightest idea that it might sell or not.
I mean, I remember when I published this book in a circulation of 5,000 copies
This is one of the characteristics of lors, they never start small
I printed it and took a copy of it to Mr. Kiaian, who publishes Cheshmeh
The book he was looking at was new to him. He also said, “How many of these have you published?”
I said 5,000, he said, well, what do you want to do? I said I do not know what to do
He looked at me very surprised and said, “Now bring us 20 volumes of this.”
I took 20 volumes of the book for them and after a few days they told me again that can you bring me 50 volumes?
I said yes, why not, I published the book for these things
And then he said, “Are you aware of the publications?” I said why not, he said then send 50 volumes for them if possible
And they kept asking me for books, and I soon saw that my books went on the black market
Contrary to what we thought, I mean if I want to tell you now
Before the book was published, I spoke to my wife and told her that we had received a fee for the copyright of the book to be published in the United Kingdom.
I said, “Darling, we have no money so far. Do we agree to publish a book with what we have now?”
He said yes, I said there is a McCann to go to the wind, he said well go
So we assumed this money was wasted, we did not think our money would be returned at all.
He came back later and something was added to it
And for the publication of the book, I remember talking to Mr. Kiaian when I heard that he had gone to the black market
I said what do you think I should reprint this?
He said, “Well, I do not know. Because it is not clear what happened, you may print it and keep it all in your hand.”
I said I was not worried at all because we had left this money to go
And now he’s back and something has happened to him so I’m not worried about anything at all
Then I jokingly told him that now that you are a good boy, I will print 8,000
And instead of 3,000, we printed 8,000, it didn’t take long for what we saw to go on the black market again.
And the subsequent editions continued in the same way, usually all the editions of our land, Iran
Except for the last two editions, which were 4,300 and the last, which was 3,300, all were either 5,000 or 8,000.
About 100,000 copies of our land, Iran, have been sold so far
Now we have 20-30 volumes of other books, most of which, except for a few, have been published over and over again.
For example, I think Damavand has been published 3 times, Persepolis has been published 5-6 times, Kurds have been published 3 times
Most of our books were reprinted. Another book was published in Germany, it is called Kurdistan
A book was published in England in 2002: The Nomadic Peoples of Iran
Apart from these 3 books, I have not published any other books abroad
Of course, before these books are published, mainly before the publication of these books and later for a while on top of these books.
A video report of me was published in various so-called magazines in Europe
Which in themselves helped me to be known there
I think the first serious exhibition was in 1955 at the Iran-France Association
It was an exhibition of photographs I had printed in large format
But in fact, the number of exhibitions that I have held in different places, all over the world, is very large
Many of them may not have been prestigious exhibitions, but I also exhibited them
From Khorramabad Lion and Sun Hall to Sistan and Baluchestan University
As far as I could because I thought the photo should be seen anyway
We take pictures to be seen, we take pictures because we want to convey something
Now we want to give a message, we want to say something
So I considered showing or exposing photos to be part of photography
But the more we focused on getting books, the less we focused on exhibitions
Part 04
At first, I was photographing almost everything, meaning I did not have a very specific plan in mind
Anything that appealed to me, of course, I did not take pictures of something from the beginning or I was not interested in taking pictures
For example, I was not interested in photographing insects and flowers and all that before
But over time, that is, I gradually found my favorite subject, and that my favorite subject was nothing but human beings.
People became interested in me, how they live, that they are still alive after a while and for different reasons.
One of the most important ones was marrying Ms. Arshi, my subjects became much more specific and formed
We followed the work on different ethnic groups, in fact, it was from this point that we had a very specific plan.
That is, for example, we constantly traveled to these areas where the same ethnic groups lived
And we tried to photograph different aspects of their lives, their way of life, the architecture of their homes, the climate in which they lived, and so on.
To photograph these ethnic groups and how I managed to photograph them
Something that many people happen to ask because they feel the closeness that you bring between me or us and the subject or subject of photography.
I have to say that it starts with a presupposition that I think without those presuppositions you can not achieve success in the cartoon.
One of those assumptions is that people are making a living
Photography is not their problem, photography is your problem
You have no right to disturb others, you have no right to be their soldier or cause them trouble.
That’s why if you really want to work on these and if you want these to be receptive to you
And to allow you to make cartoons, you have to create an equal relationship with them.
You can not deal with these from above, and to establish such a relationship with you in addition to the default I mentioned
You need time and so-called patience, we have to be patient, we have to enter softly.
We have to somehow convince them that what we are doing is not just for personal gain and these things, and they have to feel that.
And they do not feel these things unless they see in practice that you are behaving in this way, that is, your behavior shows them this.
For example, I went to this region for 4 years to photograph the Turkmen, I think a total of 27-28 trips were made.
And every time we stayed there for 1 week, 10 days, 15 days and with these
And they, too, over time, of course, on our first trips we could not take many photos or photos of pain.
But on subsequent trips, the more they got to know us, the more they cooperated with us
For example, I saw a woman in a village and I want to have a picture of her because I thought she was a typical Turkmen woman.
Many Turkmen may not look very different from those of other ethnic groups.
But that lady, for example, in my opinion, was one of those who had a typical Turkmen look.
And I think it was probably the nineteenth trip that I managed to take a picture of that lady
The first time we entered a village called Gerkes and there was a cleric named Ataishan, who was actually the elder of that village.
We went to him and sat down and talked to him and then asked his permission to take a picture of him
I think he may not have been very happy at first, but as we talked, he finally agreed and we took a picture of him.
The next time we went to this, for example, I had enlarged the same photo and took its framed one to him.
And their father, who had never seen such a thing before, saw that it was not a bad thing, that is, nothing bad had happened.
This photo was published in the book of the Turkmens of Iran, their father was sitting there in the small library he had and we also took a photo of him
Their father’s granddaughter had a heart condition, so we brought this with us to Tehran
And we wanted to hospitalize him, it was war time and the hospitals were crowded
And they did not admit anyone easily, you had to make an appointment in advance, you made an appointment
I do not want to bother you, but one thing I may not be ashamed to mention now because we lied anyway
I lied that we hospitalized him anyway, that is, for example, I said that I saw this on the side of the road.
And it fell there and I brought it and you have to do it and I do not know what to do with it, but well we brought this from ten of us
Then they had to admit him and it turned out that his heart condition was a very serious one.
And they had to do open heart surgery on him, they did that and after a long time they released him.
Of course, during all this time he was hospitalized, that is, until they had surgery and then he recovered
For example, his father was in our house, he was here, in the same house that I am talking to now.
Usually the poor man would get up in the morning and sit on the sofa, we did not have much to talk about, we did not know what to do
Well, Ziba had to go to work and I also had to go to work and travel, but he was here anyway
Later, when he returned to the village, he talked to the so-called old men of the village
And he told them that they opened my heart, but none of them believed him
And they asked him, for example, to open his shirt and show his chest
When they touched this heart, it was something unimaginable or unbelievable for them
And I do not know how much it affected their minds
Of course, we did not have this direct impact, but because of us, they were or were experiencing something new.
I remember that later, after a while, the boy’s mother told my wife that I had vowed to come to your house one night and sleep.
The fact that Iran or the Iranian society is composed of numerous and diverse ethnic groups is a fact of the existence of the Iranian society.
And I think those who do not want to accept this or understand this
Then they cause suffering to themselves as well as to others
If they do not want to accept that our cultural richness is not accidentally the result of this cultural diversity
It was as if they did not understand something really serious at the time
You look, for example, I say in music, you look how interesting it is
For example, we have Kurdish music, we have Lori music, we have Azeri music, we have Khorasani music.
Likewise in other things, in all the areas you look at, you see that there is this diversity.
And this diversity means cultural richness, that people live in a land with very different and diverse customs and rituals and beliefs.
It makes this land very attractive to live
Part 05
One day I was going to Marnjab with a group of nomads, in a minibus of children
Then the children are young, they sit at night, and in the morning, for example, they get up at 9 o’clock and slowly climb these dunes, where, for example, they want to take pictures.
Then one of these guys told me that my teacher does not know why everything I take is not photographed.
I told him, “Darling, how many times have you been on a desert trip?” He said this is the second time
I said maybe you came like this last time? He said yes, that is, they had gone on these tours again
And, for example, they had been walking on this sand for an hour, blinking for themselves and taking pictures.
They said, “Darling, I’m 30 years old. I’m coming and going. It ‘s just going to be a book.”
Then, for example, I say that when I go to the desert, I still do not know where I am in the sun, and I found out about it on my previous trip.
This means, for example, that the photo you saw at the book launch and mentioned is a desert near Bafgh
A place near a village called Sadeghabad, which is not far from Bafgh, maybe, for example, 30-40 km
For example, one day I went there and saw some things and thought that the light of this light is not morning, it is afternoon light.
It took a long time because it was not very close, for example, maybe 2 years later, in the afternoon I went there
Then I saw that he was not taking pictures again and I noticed something else
The season I went, the sun, for example, rose here and set here.
The next season the sun had changed its place and I did not realize it, I learned that over time
Well, then, before the sun rises at all, I go to the top of the hills, that is, where I went and I have already identified it.
Then, as the sun rose, I could distinguish the lines of these sand dunes a little.
I realized that I should have a photo of this here, then I could go 500 meters above the hill or 300 meters inverter.
And find that right angle I want
Anyway, he said, “Look, darling, this is it, so now you’re having fun here last night.”
And at 9 o’clock in the morning you got up and came and said that my photo is not good, now you have to come, photography really works
Despite being a person who was very good at managing time
I mean, I could really use all the hours and minutes, it took decades to make these books.
So it does not matter if you are really very, very smart or not
In this case, if I want to put humility aside, I have to say that I managed the time well, but it has worked so hard, so it really works.
A form of photography If copying is merely, you want to take a picture of a simple fact, such as these glasses.
You can take an art photo or a non-art photo from this
So the division of art photography in that way is meaningless to me
For example, we have art photography, then, for example, we have fashion photography, then we have anthropological photography
Then we have advertising or industrial photography and so on
In fact, photography as an art can go through all of this
That is to say, if we want to divide, this division must be in a different way, not as it is.
All types and genres of photography can be artistic or non-artistic
I always say look when I talk to my students
Many of the things we see in the world today, these are not things that are new, newly created
Many of these are things that were ancient, suppose man has been cooking bread and food for thousands of years, for example.
Well, it’s not a new subject, the photographer’s job is to show it the same way
To make the audience think as if they had not seen this
You see, of course, there are some difficulties in defining this one
Some people think that it means that the subject should be shown in such a way that the audience thinks as if they did not see it.
They think that such a thing can be done by playing so-called shamorti
For example, I say someone thinks that if someone is cooking bread with a fish lens with a viewing angle of 180 degrees
Take a picture, for example, he has said something new now, he may have said something new
But no, as far as the angle of view of this lens or this camera is concerned, this is not new, this lens gives a certain perspective.
I mean, the viewer thinks he has not seen it like this, but he has not seen it
We should not reduce ourselves to these simple tricks that arise from the so-called necessity of certain tools.
This newness is not just me now using a lens that is a lens that creates a perspective that no one has seen before.
These themselves were once new, of course, but to the extent that they were created by new tools, they were considered new.
This is not what I mean, the idea that I am new is a little different.
I always used natural light, I never had a flash
I am one of the few photographers in the world who has never had a flash
This threatens me to return to black and white photography, for perfectly practical reasons, because the slide cannot be found.
And I still could not convince myself to take pictures with digital cameras
And for some time now, I’m honestly being tempted to finally give in to the digital camera or go for black and white photography.
Analog camera photography is still very attractive to me, basically this movie showing and printing is still very attractive to me.
Someone once asked me a similar question: How has Kasraian changed from Kasraian 30, 40 or 50 years ago?
I told him, “Well, as far as I heard, even Mount Everest has something added to its height, and I must have changed.”
My relationship with photography has been a so-called interactive relationship today.
On the one hand, I think I pursued photography because
Photography meant recording changes, meaning the photographer sees that everything is constantly changing
And then when he sees that everything changes, he himself changes, this has been and is very attractive to me.
I mean, now if I want to tell you, what I am may have existed in the beginning in a much lesser way.
But now I have come to a so-called certainty that everything is constantly changing
Nothing else is stable in my opinion right now, everything is constantly changing, this one
The second change I made was to look deeper, I don’t think I really saw so deep in the beginning as I did later.
Of course, now I do not mean that I can see everything very deeply, I am talking about a relativity.
So if I were to summarize the change I made in these 50 years, it might not be more than these two sentences.
One is that many things are credit, not much should be sought after absolute things, there is no absolute thing
And there’s another one to look deeper, these are the two changes I think I made
I’m not disappointed, I’m not disappointed at all, but I have a little pessimism that the world is getting better, the way he is treating himself, I have a bit of pessimism
That’s why I hope it gets better
Part 06
Basically, I’m a person who does not think at all about doing something
I think for a while and then I start acting
And I think that going this way will tell me how I should go or how I should continue to work.
For example, I noticed that the image that people have of Damavand is a postcard image that is usually taken from this mountain or peak in daylight.
And the rest is a conical peak and at the bottom, for example, a number of flowers and plants are photographed in the foreground.
Then I thought that they could see this Damavand in other conditions and this is something else
For example, in this light, especially when the air is not yet so dark that it is not possible to see the mountain and not so bright that it can be seen clearly.
This is another image × I thought that this way we can see many Damavands
I mean, I thought that this way I could really expand the visual experience of my audience or viewers a little bit and go a little deeper.
This Damavand is flickering in this so-called late evening while the small, dim lights of the houses on its slopes flicker.
Let’s see, look and see how different this is from the Damavand that you usually see when you cross Haraz Road in the middle of the day, this is something else.
Later I saw that a life was going on at the foot of this mountain, a ceremony was being held
For example, a ceremony called Barfachal is held there, it is a ritual thing
It is very old, my lady has worked on this, on this snowy ceremony
But it also had a very practical function in the lives of the people who live on the slopes of Damavand.
And that is the last snow that is on the mountainside in the last month of spring or the middle month of spring.
They bring them all together, that is, with help, and store them in a large pit at lower altitudes.
In this way, they can have enough water for their livestock at peak temperatures
In any case, these things were usually formed this way
That is, with a preliminary study and then acting, as you work, you will discover different layers and aspects and other aspects of what you are photographing.
I think about a hundred and seven, eight, ten times I went to Damavand in total
Of course, I unfortunately could not go to the summit, and for some it may be a little surprising how someone who did not go to Damavand Peak has written a book about Damavand.
But my answer for those people is that when you went to Damavand Peak, you can no longer photograph Damavand, so this is not a problem.
Of course, in Damavand’s book, there are some photos of the peak itself, which I asked my brother, who was with me, to take.
For example, from the same sulfur things that are the tip that I mentioned in the book, of course, that these photos are of my brother
Because I could not climb more than 5,000 meters because I was losing my balance
I think the slides I have may be at least 4,000 frames at least
From that 4,000 frames with about 100 we made a book
Of course, in my opinion, photography, not of Damavand, of any other subject or subject, never ends and never ends.
I also knew this, which means that when I was photographing Damavand, I always thought that every time I came across another face from this mountain or peak, I would face it.
And since everything is constantly changing, you can easily tell yourself that when the photography of this mountain ends, never
But I thought because it was always in my mind that my job was to identify the topics
Or show a pattern or an example and the rest should do, the rest should go on, I did not think I always have the last word
I will do something that has come to my mind, what I have understood, then the others will continue.
For example, for the next edition of Damavand book, the third or fourth edition, if I am not mistaken
For example, there are some photos that we did not have in the first and second editions
For example, maybe 20 years after Damavand’s book was published, one day I went north
Finally, near Babolsar, I was able to see Damavand, which can be seen very clearly
And I have a picture in my book of a river where the river actually flows into the sea, that is, from the mouth of that river.
There is a boat there too, so while we have a boat in the background, it can be seen in the background of Damavand peak.
One morning I was going to the mountains south of Damavand
And somehow I wanted to get myself to a place overlooking the mountains and the peaks
I was going there when a shepherd asked me what are you doing here at this time of day or night?
I told him that I was a photographer and explained to him. When he found out that I had come to photograph Damavand, he said let’s go and have breakfast.
I said no, it’s too late, I have to go up because the sun is rising
I went and when I came back I saw some apples on the hood of my car
I was really impressed by all this empathy was that I thought I should somehow talk or reflect on this.
After all, what kind of place is it where we live, who are the people we interact with?
There was something emotional about me, I was really, really impressed
I mentioned that he did not want to leave me without breakfast, I did not see him anymore and he had just left the apples and left.