Watching History
In February 1979, I was twenty-seven years old; a young man who had just learned photography and hadn’t seriously and professionally entered this field yet. I had gone after photography because it brought about the possibility of facing, reflecting on, and paying attention to other people. Almost a year had passed from my first photo exhibition titled “Meeting the People Around Us” in Obeyd Hall of the University of Tehran. Now, the streets were full of people; all kinds of people: young and old, with different thoughts, inclinations, and various social classes all with a common goal: revolution. In those turbulent days, I would start off from Baharestan Square close to my parent’s house and get myself to Jaleh Square, Fouzieh Square, and Ferdosi Square and continue toward the University of Tehran. From there, I would join the wave of the crowd till Azadi Square; a route which seemed to pass a historic corridor and became known as the Enqelab Street. I knew that a news photographer must narrate the events and happenings around him as an “honest witness of the truth”; he should not be affected by what he sees through his camera lens. But the history-making incident that was shaping in front of my eyes brought about my first serious experiences of photography which have captured the air of those days in themselves. They might be able to communicate to the future generations my feelings of watching history.
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