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?
From Shutter Clicks to Heartbeats: Celebrating the World Photography Day
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
What does photography mean to you?
“The violence of the moment,” a quote Prof Berthold Beiler.
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.
What does photography mean to you?
Photography is the way I feel about my life.
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.
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.
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.
What does photography mean to you?
Photography is life for me. It’s the medium by which I can heal my stress.
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.
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.
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.