honorable mention
Lee-Marie Sadek france
title
Mr Hatami (the Flight Room)
My work is divided between fine arts photography and documentary. I consider photography to be a personal expression but also a reflexion. My images are about concepts that question not only the subject (what is seen) but the photographer himself through his work and the medium that is used to produce such concepts.
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entry description
One saturday night, an old man entered the hotel where i was working. He was weary and seemed to be homeless. He asked me to order him an ambulance so i did. While waiting for the help we spoke a bit and then, just before the ambulance had arrived, he asked me to check his name and his work ; claiming that he was an important photographer. After he was carried away, i typed the name “HATAMI SHAHROKH” in the search engine to discover with great amazement and emotion that i had just met a great photographer whose body of work includes : the Iranian Revolution of 1978-79, the Israel/Egypt peace talks in 1977-1978, the return (plane) trip of the Ayatollah Khomeini to Iran in February 1979, portraits of the Beatles in Liverpool, Sharon Tate, Coco Chanel, Ingrid Bergman and Steve McQueen among other celebrities ...Hatami was also present on the sets of Woody Allen’s “What’s New Pussycat?”, Jean Luc Godard’s “Le Mepris”, Francois Truffaut’s “Fahrenheit 451”, “Casino Royale”, “Doctor Zhivago”, Polansky’s “Rosemary’s Baby” and Charlie Chaplin’s latest film “A Countess from Hong Kong” starring Sophia Loren and Marlon Brando. After checking all this, i decided to look after this man hoping that i will meet him again to do some pictures and consequently an intimate portrait of him. Over four days, i spent some time with Mr Hatami in his room at the Georges Pompidou hospital in Paris. He had a very difficult and revolting character and he seemed to be ending his life in a very sad and desolate way, but against all this, i was facing a brilliant photographer whose legacy will hopefully continue to survive, and it was the most beautiful gift for me to make these pictures of him before he leaves this world.about the photographer
I was born in Beirut - Lebanon in 1977. I wanted to be a graphic designer in the purpose to design CD booklets and posters. In 1995 i went to Brussels for two years to study Typography and Graphic Design at La Cambre (school of visual arts in Brussels). After it, i returned to my country and had my degree in Mass Media - Publicity at the Lebanese University. In 2001 i moved to France where i live now, and had my master degree in Communication-Publicity. Then i dropped all my publicity studies out of interest, but the passion to produce an image was still a need inside me, so i turned naturally into photography. In 2012 i had my degree in Fine Arts - Photography at the University of Paris 8.My work is divided between fine arts photography and documentary. I consider photography to be a personal expression but also a reflexion. My images are about concepts that question not only the subject (what is seen) but the photographer himself through his work and the medium that is used to produce such concepts.
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