IMAGO/Subash Shrestha

From Shutter Clicks to Heartbeats: Celebrating the World Photography Day

For many of us, photography spans a spectrum of emotions and interpretations, from art and advocacy to simple joy and many more. While iconic images have shaped our perceptions and legendary photographers have inspired us, have we ever paused to reflect on the visionaries behind the lens? What drives their passion, and how do they view their art?

world photography day
IMAGO / Subash Shrestha

This World Photography Day, we turned the lens back on our photographers, exploring their perspectives and passions. We asked them two questions: what does photography mean to them? And who or what inspired them the most.


Majdi Fathi

Gaza-based Palestinian photojournalist; associated with NurPhoto Agency.

imago images/NurPhoto
IMAGO / NurPhoto / Majdi Fathi | Daily Life in Gaza. August 22, 2021, Palestine.

What does photography mean to you?

I always like to take pictures. When I look with my eyes, I see things as pictures. I love photography because I learned photography as a hobby and I did not learn photography at a college or university.


IMAGO/NurPhoto
IMAGO / NurPhoto / Majdi Fathi | Daily Life in Gaza. February 25, 2023, Palestine.

Who or what inspired you in photography?

In the beginning, I started photography as a hobby 16 years ago. Since childhood, I loved photos and loved watching them, especially family photos from childhood. When I grew up, my love for photography grew with me, so I started looking for cameras until I started renting a camera and started photographing everything. I photograph children, family, the street, and the sea; until I got to photographing political events and the war on Gaza, I started posting pictures on forums on the Internet. At that time, there were no social networking sites.


Maciej Rogowski

Lisbon-based photographer and digital creator.

IMAGO/Maciej Rogowski
IMAGO / Maciej Rogowski | Saviour Godwin celebrates after scoring a goal during the game between Casa Pia AC and GD Estoril Praia. May 23rd, 2023, Leiria, Portugal.

What does photography mean to you?

Photography is the only effective way to get very close and intimate with someone while being totally anonymous and far away at the same time.

From Shutter Clicks to Heartbeats: Celebrating the World Photography Day
Photo: Maciej Rogowski.

Who or what inspired you in photography?

I get inspired by sports and live music photographers from around the world and by unexpected situations that bring a little chaos and are forced to improvise in a way that brings unexpected results.


Emmanuele Contini

Freelance photographer; specializing in journalism, fashion, and portraits. 

IMAGO/NurPhoto
IMAGO / NurPhoto / Emmanuele Contini | The Psicotropicos Festival 2023 at Festsaal Kreuzberg in Berlin. July 15, 2023, Germany.

What does photography mean to you?

Photography, for me, is the privilege to do every day, one of the things I love to do the most anyways and also, working as a journalist, the privilege to explore and document the world from an angle that not everybody has access to and with this meeting new people and seeing new situations every day.


From Shutter Clicks to Heartbeats: Celebrating the World Photography Day
Photo: Emmanuele Contini.

Who or what inspired you in photography?

I actually have to credit my father for bringing me into the world of photography. He was a passionate amateur photographer and tough me to print black and white pictures still with enlarger and films. I really loved that, and photography just became my form of expression.


Varuth Pongsapipatt

Bangkok-based photojournalist; covers a range of topics from culture to human rights.
From Shutter Clicks to Heartbeats: Celebrating the World Photography Day
Photo: Varuth Pongsapipatt.

What does photography mean to you?

For me, photography is a medium to see, record, and express the world through the photographer’s point of view, feeling, life, and meaning values in their eyes.

From Shutter Clicks to Heartbeats: Celebrating the World Photography Day
Photo: Varuth Pongsapipatt.

Who or what inspired you in photography?

The one who inspired me is my grandfather, who used his camera to photograph daily life and passed his hobby to me with his point-and-shoot film camera. The year passed by in Thailand, many political events happened while I was growing up, and my family took part unintentionally; the world I see taught me that the camera is one of the best ways to describe the problems of people in society and also the good medium to tell the voice of the voiceless.


Eberhard Thonfeld

Photographer from Jena; co-founder of Camera 4 agency, Berlin; known for historical German sports photography.  

imago/Camera 4
IMAGO / Camera 4 / Eberhard Thonfeld | the award winnig photo by Eberhard Thonfeld. February 1, 2017, Potsdam.

What does photography mean to you?

“The violence of the moment,” a quote Prof Berthold Beiler.


IMAGO/Eberhard Thonfeld
IMAGO / Eberhard Thonfeld | GDR Television, Sport aktuell Studio Adlershof. July 3, 1975, Berlin.

Who or what inspired you in photography?

Jacques Henri Lartique 1894-1986 France. Photographer of the beautiful, and the private of movement.


Alex Amoros

London-based photographer, director, and musician.

From Shutter Clicks to Heartbeats: Celebrating the World Photography Day
Photo: Alex Amoros.

What does photography mean to you?

Photography is the way I feel about my life.


From Shutter Clicks to Heartbeats: Celebrating the World Photography Day
Photo: Alex Amoros.

Who or what inspired you in photography?

I have been inspired by different things, mainly music, football and street culture; these are my passions and who I am.


Subash Shrestha

Kathmandu photojournalist who covers politics and culture.

IMAGO/Subash Shrestha
IMAGO / Subash Shrestha | Swasthani Brata in Nepal. January 21, 2023, Nepal.

What does photography mean to you?

Witness the moment that soon will be a memory and sometimes register as history and a profession where commoners are someone kept at the center and establish the connection with diversity.


IMAGO/Subash Shrestha
IMAGO / Subash Shrestha | Cultural rituals of Magar. June 16, 2023, Nepal.

Who or what inspired you in photography?

“Narrate the story” always drives me through. I care for the proximity with the character and subject, the implications it has, the color of the moment and the science of light when I use my gears. While doing so, I always tend to deliver a different perspective and break the traditional narrative, which people are tired of. Readers and viewers always have been my inspiration and source of admiration.


Avishek Das

Indian documentary photographer; affiliated with SOPA Images Limited, Hong Kong.


IMAGO/ZUMA Wire
IMAGO / ZUMA Wire / Avishek Das | Children seen playing football. November 26, 2022, Kolkata, India.

What does photography mean to you?

Photography is life for me. It’s the medium by which I can heal my stress.


IMAGO/ZUMA Wire
IMAGO / ZUMA Wire / Avishek Das | November 26, 2022, Kolkata, India.

Who or what inspired you in photography?

I love to portray stories from any event and try to make visual documentation with a long-term approach so that I can continue my journey with the same spirit & energy.


Kabir Jhangiani

New Delhi photojournalist; contributor to ZUMA Press and NurPhoto Agency.

IMAGO/NurPhoto
IMAGO / NurPhoto / Kabir Jhangiani | A woman holds a picture of the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, during a candlelight vigil held to mark the anniversary of the 64th Tibetan National Uprising Day in New Delhi. March 10, 2023, India.

What does photography mean to you?  

For me, Photography is witnessing the moments in a particular instance. Moments can be good or bad too, but as a Photojournalist, I prefer capturing all moments, whether it’s good or bad, as we have to show what is happening around us.


IMAGO/ZUMA Wire
IMAGO / ZUMA Wire / Kabir Jhangiani | A group of women watch a Partial Solar Eclipse through protective glasses in New Delhi. October 25, 2022, India.

Who or what inspired you in photography?  

All Photographers/Photojournalists who work I like inspire me in some or the other way. There’s no particular person as such. All Photographers try to show moments in their way.

Interviews by Esin Karakas & Fatemeh Roshan for Vibrant Visions series.