Iran Week: Mehri Rahimzadeh

Iran Week: Mehri Rahimzadeh by Kiana FarhoudiMarch 23, 2018

©Mehri Rahimzadeh

Some months back, Iranian curator and photographer, Kiana Farhoudi and I corresponded about photography in Iran. I invited her to share some of the new voices in Iranian photography and this week we feature a number of those photographers. – Aline Smithson

Mehri Rahimzadeh has a B.A in “Conservation and Renovation of Historical Buildings”.She has taken photography and cinema classes and has been working as a photographer since 2004. She is also a lecturer and a curator.

The photos selected for this project are all taken by iPhone SE, which has given her a better opportunity to get close to her subjects. Taking photos with cameras in Iran is not the simplest job and not everyone uses a camera to execute their projects. Rahimzadeh uses her iPhone and its processing applications to take pictures which taking them with a professional or even a semi-professional camera is difficult. People seem to get defensive when they see a camera is being pointed at them while a cell phone seems less intrusive.

Though a cell phone is as intrusive and voyeuristic as a camera, but somehow in the age of social media and Instagram, seeing a person taking pictures with a cell phone is less weird and less threatening. Also, a cell phone provides the photographer with the opportunity to seize the moment as soon as it happens.

Just like Mahsa Imani, Mehri Rahimzadeh is also the photographer of everyday life.

©Mehri Rahimzadeh

Born in 1981, in Qazvin, Iran, Mehri Rahimzadeh has a Bachelor of Arts in “Conservation and Renovation of Historical Buildings”. She received her Filmmaking Diploma from Qazvin’s “Iranian Youth Cinema Society” in 2003.

Rahimzadeh is an avid photographer and has worked in film projects since 2004. She is photography and cinema lecturer and a curator focusing mainly on landscape and urban photography. She currently lives and works in Tehran, Iran and in addition to being professionally engaged in photography and cinema and film projects, she is also the Photo Editor at Hamshahri Daastaan Magazine. (A monthly magazine, dedicated to authored and translated short stories.)

©Mehri Rahimzadeh

A Collection of Mobile Photography, Taken by iPhone SE

Photography gave me the opportunity to get closer to my surroundings. To go in details with forms: of different shapes, people, trees, faces and light that shines and reveals everything. When there is light on something it is not easy to escape from its reality. Maybe it sounds funny, but I was one of the firm opponents of mobile photography, but later I realized that sometimes there is no other way but shooting with mobile. Although my opposition still exists, a friendship appeared on the way and I believe our separation would be difficult.