PRESSTV — broadcast
20260808 123000 UTC
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[00:00:00] the the noble thought of all the people that work in this field
[00:00:05] in to um being
[00:00:07] in able to create some sort of change in the
[00:00:11] future and i think you have to
[00:00:13] in really believe in this otherwise you would
[00:00:16] notum stand doing this kind of job for
[00:00:20] very long time um so this is my belief and i
[00:00:24] think bearing witness means two
[00:00:27] things like
[00:00:29] in me as a person as an individual seeing all
[00:00:33] of
[00:00:33] in this that is happening, being able to talk about
[00:00:37] it, to create an image about it and let
[00:00:41] other people um be part of that story and educate
[00:00:45] them if possible um and on the
[00:00:49] other hand of course as a photographer to to bear witness with my
[00:00:53] camera and take photos that
[00:00:56] will um outlive.
[00:01:00] of this generation and they will be
[00:01:03] shown um hopefully
[00:01:05] in a hundred years and will be taking example
[00:01:09] for the atrocities that war can can
[00:01:12] cause and i think it's always been the
[00:01:16] same as i said in the beginning um
[00:01:20] you always need people who
[00:01:22] a are there in this moments and
[00:01:25] show the world what is happening and how war looks like
[00:01:29] or how? conflict look like looks like, because this
[00:01:33] shapes our perspective on certain events, and
[00:01:37] if you don't have anyone bearing witness, um, anyone
[00:01:41] could come and create their
[00:01:43] own, yes,
[00:01:46] and the thing is, um,
[00:01:47] of course, in your photography, from what I've seen,
[00:01:51] um, you always try to um, provide
[00:01:55] of voice for the voiceless and you try to represent the
[00:01:58] minorities. those who are in trouble and like you said you just
[00:02:02] described as those who want to be photograph are the ones who
[00:02:06] need help most - how do you um
[00:02:10] do your job
[00:02:11] in a way to keep the subject of your
[00:02:13] photography a collaborator
[00:02:17] of in um designing the narrative that you
[00:02:21] are seeking and not just the subject in the
[00:02:23] photo um I
[00:02:27] think it's just um
[00:02:30] important to first show
[00:02:34] presence as a person and not as a
[00:02:37] of professional or as as a photographer, just be
[00:02:40] there, listen to
[00:02:42] of what people have to say and gain as much information is
[00:02:46] possible that is around, and if
[00:02:50] you feel accepted
[00:02:51] in a certain environment, then it's the moment
[00:02:53] I raise my camera and start taking photos. I think
[00:02:57] um, without any personal knowledge that... i that i
[00:03:01] um tried to gain beforehand, it would feel
[00:03:05] very wrong to go to a place and just take photos for the sake of
[00:03:09] of it,
[00:03:09] i just want to be educated myself about the certain
[00:03:12] situation before i start educating other
[00:03:16] people, and like you said you
[00:03:19] you you start with building the trust before actually
[00:03:23] getting on with your job, how do you what's your way
[00:03:26] of building trust with your
[00:03:29] of subjects? "I mean it depends on the situation, it can just be
[00:03:33] um a person in the streets somewhere
[00:03:35] in a country where I don't speak the
[00:03:37] in language or it can uh
[00:03:41] a of be very different different moments. Um, if it's possible, I would just try and
[00:03:45] talk to someone, show interest in their in their
[00:03:49] um in what they're doing right
[00:03:52] now, um, and then just
[00:03:54] من casually ask if they are okay if I take a photo, but I think in the
[00:03:58] end the best way is to just..." "be present,
[00:04:01] step into a certain situation, be
[00:04:05] seen and be recognized as um,
[00:04:09] a peaceful um intruder and not as a not
[00:04:13] as
[00:04:13] in a threat, and I think if some moments pass
[00:04:17] and people saw, "this person stands here, he might look a
[00:04:21] bit weird, but um, we accept him in our in our
[00:04:25] moment, um, then I mostly
[00:04:28] of of experience that people are okay with..." with um me taking photos of what
[00:04:32] they're doing or whatever, yeah, but if you're too fast and
[00:04:36] if you rush into a certain moment
[00:04:39] then I feel it's disrespectful and
[00:04:42] mostly it
[00:04:43] of it um doesn't lead to great photos right, so you're
[00:04:47] in a fan of planned photography and not just um
[00:04:51] instant photographies, but at the same time
[00:04:54] of um there are cases of instant photography in your journals of
[00:04:57] course when you're doing some sort of. of reporting, especially
[00:05:01] for news channel or for news outlets, what are the
[00:05:04] differences? um,
[00:05:08] of it's two totally different
[00:05:11] in disciplines. in photography, like um, as I said, if
[00:05:15] I
[00:05:16] just um, if I'm a
[00:05:20] interesting place, a new so
[00:05:21] city on, and I just like to walk around and get inspired and almost
[00:05:25] feel like a um state of
[00:05:28] meditation, just like being very aware of everything that is
[00:05:32] happening and um get drawn into some faces
[00:05:36] or some moments or whatever, and then I decide to to
[00:05:40] create some photos and sometimes... that just spent an
[00:05:44] hour or even longer a certain position to get
[00:05:48] good photo, so this is one thing, but on the other hand of
[00:05:51] course um, there might things be happening in
[00:05:55] front of you where you have to act very quickly and very
[00:05:59] fast to get some good shots and
[00:06:03] that's something totally different that I also enjoy doing,
[00:06:06] because um it's very unplanned and
[00:06:09] very um... the instincts that take
[00:06:13] over, yeah, right,
[00:06:16] and um, you've spoken about moments when
[00:06:19] you,
[00:06:20] you must overcome the instinct not
[00:06:24] to take a photo, especially in scenes of extreme
[00:06:27] suffering, um, tell me about those moments, the moments
[00:06:31] between deciding to go with the shotter or not at
[00:06:34] all,
[00:06:36] mean i just remember being in some
[00:06:37] um
[00:06:41] um everyone hospitals near frontlines or
[00:06:44] whatever and i saw some very very
[00:06:48] bad um things like bad injuries and very
[00:06:52] very horrible things that happened to to people's
[00:06:55] bodies or soldiers bodies and
[00:06:59] the first instinct of course would be to document it all
[00:07:03] and to take photos of everything
[00:07:05] that is happening but then on the other hand i feel there
[00:07:08] is a certain degree of um
[00:07:15] that doesn't have a positive impact anything, because i
[00:07:18] think you can show way more
[00:07:22] emotion and things that will create emotions in the
[00:07:26] viewer without showing a lag that
[00:07:30] is blown off, for example, so these are the
[00:07:34] moments that i would, i would um
[00:07:37] decide to not raise my camera, or
[00:07:41] i would take photos. but not publish the photos or just
[00:07:45] not like um give them to my editors or my agency or
[00:07:48] whatever yeah the ethical concerns in your job
[00:07:52] and and this brings me to one the moments
[00:07:56] that left a deep mark on you the supermarket strike in
[00:07:59] ukraine tell me about um that experience the burned bodies
[00:08:03] and um yeah that was that
[00:08:06] was terrible because we came
[00:08:10] back from an assignment somewhere close to to
[00:08:14] the city was, think in kramadorsk, um, the city in
[00:08:18] Dombas, and when we went back and we wanted to
[00:08:21] go to the apartment to just relax for the evening,
[00:08:25] we heard that the supermarket was bombed in the same city as
[00:08:29] we we stayed in, and I told
[00:08:33] my my driver, we need to go there, just drive me
[00:08:37] there, and when we arrived, it was like, I
[00:08:41] was one the the... first um um photographers
[00:08:45] or or journalists arrived there and it
[00:08:49] was literally burned bodies on one side the
[00:08:52] street and old ladies still um
[00:08:56] holding the the um the things that they
[00:08:59] bought looking in shock um to
[00:09:03] this this burning burning supermarket so that
[00:09:06] was absolutely terrible to see yeah
[00:09:10] like it's an extend.
[00:09:13] of of horror that is um yeah that is
[00:09:17] terrible indescribable yeah yes and um
[00:09:21] where do you draw the ethical line between necessary
[00:09:24] documentation of course when it comes to an experience as
[00:09:28] abhorent as this one and
[00:09:31] exploitation um has that line shifted over time you
[00:09:35] think it's a good question I
[00:09:39] think um the the line draws itself. off with
[00:09:43] the intention you have while taking the photo, because
[00:09:47] exploitation starts when i take the photo
[00:09:50] for my personal
[00:09:53] advantage, and i've witnessed it,
[00:09:57] witnessed that as well, that photographers, they
[00:10:00] they try to create certain situations
[00:10:04] because they know if they take this or that photo they will gain
[00:10:07] more um recognition among other photographers
[00:10:11] or whatever. but um that's something i don't
[00:10:15] really respect of course
[00:10:17] so it happens often like um it's a real scene
[00:10:21] but um there are photographers who stage it a way
[00:10:25] that it would get, it's absolute absolute no go and that's something
[00:10:29] you are never allowed to do and you should never do,
[00:10:32] not like even moving one single item that
[00:10:36] is in the scene, you should not do any any change
[00:10:40] in what you see, you should just take what is in front of your
[00:10:44] lens, but of course there's cases where where
[00:10:48] people, there was one case of i
[00:10:50] think um big protest somewhere and the...
[00:10:55] fer um was in the crowd and he he
[00:10:59] saw someone throwing something um against the
[00:11:03] policeman and he didn't um raise his camera fast enough so he
[00:11:06] went to this protest and said could you just do do it again so i can
[00:11:10] take the photo yes yes um and of course this is
[00:11:14] nogo and if this gets
[00:11:18] public then mostly these these people never
[00:11:21] get um booked again or no jobs um
[00:11:25] professional in this line, um, how much of
[00:11:28] mainstream media productions and the photography we see
[00:11:32] as um viewers of that kind of media is filled
[00:11:36] with that sort of staged photography? i
[00:11:39] think not too much, because
[00:11:43] um, mostly people who work in this field, they built
[00:11:47] reputation very very hard and through
[00:11:50] time and lot of work and lot of effort
[00:11:54] and... "nobody would risk um losing all of that
[00:11:58] by cheating or creating
[00:12:01] um false reality, so I
[00:12:04] hope um this is not the case, yeah it's
[00:12:08] mostly like it's mostly um people who want to gain
[00:12:11] attention quickly and they think they can get some
[00:12:15] shortcuts in their career or whatever, but um it
[00:12:19] mostly leads to nothing, yeah right, that's really good
[00:12:22] news um and much of..." um the work that you've done
[00:12:26] in Ukraine kind of balances brutality
[00:12:30] with resistance, why is it so important to
[00:12:34] you to um um picture both devastation
[00:12:37] and strength? because I think they can coexist together,
[00:12:41] like um lot of opposite feelings or
[00:12:45] emotions are found in places
[00:12:48] where you might not think you can find them
[00:12:52] like in the most um
[00:12:55] horrific environments, there is
[00:12:58] also joy and love and um
[00:13:01] emotions that you find elsewhere in the world,
[00:13:05] because I think that's what we human beings
[00:13:09] share all around the world in all the environments and
[00:13:13] times um we just carry the same things in us and
[00:13:16] certain
[00:13:19] environments they they don't change the need
[00:13:22] to to have um lot. every now and then
[00:13:26] or friendship or soft moments,
[00:13:29] yes,
[00:13:31] and um, when I look at your portfolio, it's a vast
[00:13:34] amount of experience, you've been doing photography in Ukraine,
[00:13:38] Lebanon, Afghanistan, Iraq, and India, um, and
[00:13:42] and today in Iran, you are in the middle of a conflict, um,
[00:13:46] what common threats do you see in communities facing
[00:13:50] hardship? I mean, the most common
[00:13:54] threat for me, is that these communities don't
[00:13:58] get the attention that they deserve and they
[00:14:02] are portrayed a wrong way and that's why i think it's
[00:14:05] always important to go there in person and do your work by
[00:14:09] yourself and and see everything with
[00:14:12] your own eyes and um this is what i try to
[00:14:16] do like with the most honest
[00:14:19] and andraw way that is um possible for
[00:14:22] me to give. a
[00:14:26] voice to these people and to these communities and
[00:14:29] situations, so I think this is the biggest threat
[00:14:33] that exists, to be
[00:14:36] misunderstood or portrayed
[00:14:38] a be wrong way,
[00:14:42] and um, of course these sorts of jobs um do not come
[00:14:46] accidentally, and and um, it must be a
[00:14:50] subject of interest to you that you've been to all these,
[00:14:53] especially um... um brutalized communities and
[00:14:57] places, um, do you handpick the
[00:15:00] projects? sometimes I do, when I have the
[00:15:04] feeling that it's um global
[00:15:07] interest that is now like the
[00:15:11] light is on this certain event um or
[00:15:15] this this um crisis or whatever um
[00:15:18] but sometimes also the agency
[00:15:22] or some some newspapers or... media, they they
[00:15:26] contact me and want me to go there and there to
[00:15:29] cover certain stories, and I can imagine many these
[00:15:33] jobs come on very short notice exactly, so you should always...
[00:15:37] be ready to pack your bags and just leave, yeah, yeah, sometimes you
[00:15:41] get the call for the same
[00:15:45] day, yeah, to cover may be different
[00:15:48] events on the same day, right, also
[00:15:51] happened, lauren, you witness
[00:15:54] soldiers on frontlines, you witness grieving families at
[00:15:58] funerals, um, what have these experiences
[00:16:02] taught to you about human
[00:16:04] endurance, that people, "in
[00:16:08] most places that I've worked in are incredibly
[00:16:11] strong and resilient, and it's mostly the people that
[00:16:15] have nothing to do what is happening to them, and that
[00:16:19] is not fair, but
[00:16:23] it's also beautiful to see how
[00:16:27] strong human beings are in the
[00:16:30] worst moments you can imagine, and um, to
[00:16:34] be more specific, what compelled you to..." you travel to
[00:16:38] Iran at this particular moment, especially to places
[00:16:42] like the straight of Amoz, as I hear and
[00:16:44] Minab.
[00:16:46] I think it's just stories that um need to be
[00:16:50] covered and need to be
[00:16:53] heard by
[00:16:54] the whole world, I mean if a
[00:16:58] school of innocent children gets bombed and
[00:17:02] 160 innocent lives are
[00:17:05] taken, um... "I feel there is
[00:17:08] nothing more important happening right now, and
[00:17:11] um, of course i want to to cover this and want
[00:17:15] to share this story, because
[00:17:17] yeah,
[00:17:20] the amount of devastation is
[00:17:22] is not possible to put in
[00:17:25] words, and you also talked, I assume,
[00:17:29] to the families of those little girls and
[00:17:32] um, did you find them like different
[00:17:36] from what you..." you perceived them to be
[00:17:39] like, um, did it look to you the way that
[00:17:43] you expected? i
[00:17:47] visited um three families
[00:17:51] and one these
[00:17:55] meetings um particularly
[00:17:59] sticks with me, because it was only the father
[00:18:02] of a girl that talked to us and i
[00:18:06] realized that he's tried to to
[00:18:09] give the impression of that he has everything together and he is
[00:18:13] strong and um he he can handle the
[00:18:17] situation about talking this about this topic and
[00:18:21] about his his child that he lost, but a
[00:18:24] certain point it just broke in him and like
[00:18:28] the tears came out and and it was
[00:18:31] sudden change of um behavior
[00:18:35] that was very... honest and very raw
[00:18:39] to see um what this father
[00:18:43] has to go through and that was very very um
[00:18:46] emotional of course to to witness
[00:18:49] also the the stories that has been
[00:18:53] shared with me and um the openness that these these
[00:18:57] families have um
[00:19:00] gave me um was
[00:19:04] incredible yeah right and um,
[00:19:08] as a photographer, of course, um, you're a
[00:19:12] professional, how do you handle so much
[00:19:15] mental pressure while working with these subjects, how do you keep
[00:19:19] distance, well at the same time building the trust that you need
[00:19:23] in order to get what you want from that scene, what and that
[00:19:27] character? i think it's very important to not
[00:19:30] um be distant
[00:19:34] and not like try. to build certain
[00:19:38] walls that don't let emotions um come
[00:19:42] close to you um i think the moment
[00:19:46] this happens when you lose your sensitiv
[00:19:49] sensitivity um or
[00:19:52] your um
[00:19:54] compassion or ability
[00:19:58] for emotional openness then you can't
[00:20:01] create um honest and meaningful
[00:20:05] photos anymore because you don't feel the emotions that you want evoke
[00:20:09] in the viewers um eye, so for me it's always very
[00:20:13] important despite all the things that is happening and all the things
[00:20:17] that might see and witness to still try to be as
[00:20:21] sensitive and open as possible to everything that comes around and
[00:20:24] not um being someone
[00:20:28] that just gets cold or cynical,
[00:20:32] yeah and before
[00:20:34] arriving, what perception did you? about everyone's
[00:20:38] post war reality, something you were about to face
[00:20:41] and did it stay the same or did it change
[00:20:45] when you arrived here and actually witnessed them? mean
[00:20:49] i have to admit that because of
[00:20:52] my uncle especially, he was in
[00:20:55] Iran lot of times and he always told me about his
[00:20:58] travels to to Iran and he always um um
[00:21:02] talked about his travels in the country in the highest of of
[00:21:06] um standards, so I had very
[00:21:10] high um standards already, but even these
[00:21:13] these um
[00:21:15] were
[00:21:18] exceeded um... so I i came here knowing
[00:21:22] that it is a cultural rich
[00:21:26] historical rich country with beautiful people
[00:21:29] with very
[00:21:31] very deep um
[00:21:35] um warm hearted um
[00:21:37] culture,
[00:21:39] but what I've witnessed was even more than that and seeing a
[00:21:43] country and the place and people like this facing so much
[00:21:47] hardship like Iran does. right now because the
[00:21:51] war is of course especially
[00:21:54] heartbreaking to see
[00:21:56] um
[00:21:58] so I witnessed
[00:22:02] um strong people that have endure a lot of
[00:22:06] hardship and suffering,
[00:22:08] but still they didn't lose their kindness and their um ability
[00:22:12] to to welcome strangers like me into the
[00:22:15] beautiful country with an open heart. wow that that is
[00:22:19] beautiful. and heartwming to hear from you and
[00:22:23] how would you describe the atmosphere that you've encountered here in
[00:22:27] your state in different cities that you visited, one of tension, one
[00:22:31] of resilience, one of fatigue, one of
[00:22:34] hope. I mean in some places of
[00:22:38] course you you see this cars on the streets
[00:22:42] or the the the houses or the faces the people
[00:22:46] still, I mean it's not long ago that these places had...
[00:22:50] witness um attacks, so
[00:22:53] um, I think it's it's
[00:22:57] different from place to place, um, in shiras
[00:23:00] I found, for example, I found moments of
[00:23:03] absolute tranquility and um peace
[00:23:07] and like everyday life happening as
[00:23:10] nothing, nothing comes in the way, but it
[00:23:14] depends on on the places that we that we that
[00:23:18] we've seen um... "it was different
[00:23:21] feelings and emotions everywhere that we that we went,
[00:23:25] right, and unfortunately some the world heritage sites in
[00:23:29] Iran have also been affected by the um strikes
[00:23:33] and either directly or indirectly, so I mean we've been
[00:23:36] to the pe police um and it was
[00:23:40] absolutely mindblowing to see um this
[00:23:44] beautiful amazing masterpiece of of
[00:23:47] history, but also it was very sad..." to see that there were no
[00:23:51] tourists or no one um who who who went
[00:23:55] there to to appreciate this this beauty and of course that's because the
[00:23:59] war indeed
[00:24:00] yes and um in Iran and your stay
[00:24:04] here what moments or encounters um do you
[00:24:08] think is going to stay with you most
[00:24:10] deeply
[00:24:13] I think of course meeting the
[00:24:16] families that lost their children in in these
[00:24:20] attacks
[00:24:21] on on the school and the sports complex,
[00:24:25] um, of course these were the most emotional,
[00:24:28] but all the other interactions that I had
[00:24:31] with with people, even if it's just a brief
[00:24:34] handshake, when someone came in the streets and said welcome to Iran
[00:24:38] or showed me some some
[00:24:42] um yeah, some respect as as
[00:24:45] a as foreigner in the in the
[00:24:49] in this country, um, I will, I will keep all
[00:24:53] these little and and big moments very
[00:24:57] close in my heart, and I will talk about
[00:25:00] it um with everyone in
[00:25:03] Europe, and I will share my experiences of
[00:25:07] course, and it's something cultural in
[00:25:11] Iran, people try to always um hide
[00:25:15] the sadness, the hide the misery and brave
[00:25:19] the situation. like put a brave face um, it's it's something
[00:25:23] cultural here, it's like they feel like it's
[00:25:26] a shame to talk about their suffering and their sadness
[00:25:29] always trying to come up and show a picture of resilience
[00:25:33] themselves and in your interactions with
[00:25:36] regular people on um ordinary people
[00:25:40] underground in the streets, I'm not sure if if you've been to some
[00:25:44] these rallies, nightly rallies that are held in major cities in
[00:25:48] Iran, what did you feel, what? you experience any interaction
[00:25:52] with ordinary people? no, i feel it's it's
[00:25:55] um, it's honest, like their way of
[00:25:58] of strength and resilience is is.
[00:26:02] honest and they um express their feelings in an
[00:26:06] honest way and i really respect that, so
[00:26:09] um that's also
[00:26:11] what i've seen in these gaterings in the evening um people are
[00:26:14] passionate and people show what they what they stand
[00:26:18] for and what they believe in and i think that's very important
[00:26:22] and um other people and other
[00:26:25] countries can can uh copy some of that behavior
[00:26:28] because um we miss this a lot of.
[00:26:32] places nowadays and um uh of course I
[00:26:36] wanted this conversation to go on for hours, but
[00:26:39] unfortunately for the sake of time we have to um um call
[00:26:43] it
[00:26:43] a
[00:27:00] day. At the end of every show I ask my guest to
[00:27:04] talk um for few moments with my audience directly to
[00:27:08] the camera right behind me, so take your time and share whatever you
[00:27:11] want with the audience that are now
[00:27:14] yours. so what i want to to
[00:27:18] say and what i want to share is that i really
[00:27:21] appreciate um that i had
[00:27:25] the chance to come here in
[00:27:29] this difficult time for this country.
[00:27:32] "and still being greeted and treated in this warm
[00:27:36] and respectful, loving
[00:27:40] way, and I feel I came here
[00:27:43] as a stranger, but I will leave in two days
[00:27:47] as someone who made lot of new friends here, and that
[00:27:51] is um, something very special to me,
[00:27:54] and I just wish the very
[00:27:57] best for the future, for all these beautiful people in this
[00:28:01] beautiful country." and peace be with
[00:28:04] you. Mr. Lauren Streelle, always a
[00:28:08] pleasure to have you here. It was indeed interesting. Thank
[00:28:11] you so much. Conversation and thank you for your time. Thank you.
[00:28:15] And to our dear viewers, thank you so much for staying with us on another stop. Remember
[00:28:19] you can always be part of this conversation. Simply use the social
[00:28:22] media handles on your screens. Until next time, it's
[00:28:26] goodbye
[00:28:27] from me. Bahman Roy. Thank you for your
[00:28:28] attention.
[00:29:24] قرار الوقوف الى جانب اخواننا في غزه هو
[00:29:27] قرار قياده وقرار ايضا
[00:29:30] شعبي. اكبر خطا وقع
[00:29:34] فيه التحالف اولا استخدام اساليب الرعب
[00:29:38] والتهديده
[00:29:49] وهنا استطاعت التجربه اليمنيه من خلال مراكمه الخبره ومع وجود
[00:29:52] الاراده ومع وجود المشروع التحروي ان تخلق
[00:29:56] اللا شيء
[00:29:57] شيء.
[00:30:25] Islamic Republican Guard course says impose wars on Iran and reveal
[00:30:29] the strategic deadlock the US and Israel.
[00:30:32] regime. IRGC
[00:30:36] spokesman says reopening of Stratohormose hinges on Washington's
[00:30:39] acceptance of Iran's
[00:30:41] conditions.
[00:30:47] And Spain announces border controls against Italy a tid for tap
[00:30:51] move as right over Sueda migrants to Russia
[00:30:54] intensifies.