Val Vesa is a very passionate photographer from Romania, but he wouldn’t necessarily call himself a photographer. Taking photos and telling stories with photography is his favorite pass time. Back in the day, in communist times, taking photos was much prohibited, because you had to be approved by the party to become a photographer. If you were attending an event, you’re there to enjoy and watch, without taking photos, unless you have a special license or approval. But right after communism fell in 1990, there were many German, Italian, and English people coming into the country trying to help and bring food and supplies, and one of these groups had a photographer with them, and he gave Val a Japanese...
Joey Montoya’s journey started with using photography to share the issues of indigenous cultures, when he saw that there was a lack of information and narratives being shared. As a Lipan Apache from Texas, he cares so much about indigenous people and their cause. Being raised in San Francisco and surrounded by all those industries and tech, his culture drowned out. So as an indigenous himself, he wanted to share with people the stories of indigenous people. “Using photography and design to show that we’re not invisible and that we’re actually still here.” Learning and Sharing Joey Montoya is a multimedia artist, fashion designer, and entrepreneur whose work is aimed at increasing the visibility of indigenous people. He...
“I’ve been taking photos and sharing the beauty of Lebanon, for more than 8 years now.” Karl Mansour is an architect, an urban planner, and a patriotic photographer. He is from Lebanon, but travels the world, and takes us with him through his beautiful and captivating architectural photos. He goes by the name “karliseverywhere”. He created his page in 2011, to share his own architectural shots and street photography. But his lenses’ favorite capture was, and always will be, his heart, Beirut. But imagine waking up every morning for 8 years with the mission to take photos of the architecture that you find so captivating, and then within the blink of an eye having that beauty that you cherished completely...
They connected their love fo photography and community, through a festival that was created by those young and aspiring photographers, who didn’t spend a cent. Mohammed joins us to talk about an experience he and his photographer friends went through. They had organized a festival in his home town in Libya to share the roots of his culture and to teach people in his community about the beauty of photography. Brainstorm your idea and then bring it to life The idea surfaced as they realized the cultural problem present in the Libyan community. People were shy of portraying their cultural clothing, as well as not familiar with the art of photography. So they came up with the idea of...
