Episode 25 [2021] # Late night talk with internationally acclaimed photographer Roger Moukarzel

“Because I was born into a family of journalists, I used to hang out with journalists at the newspaper office. When the war erupted in Lebanon, I used to take my brother’s camera – at a very early stage – and shoot some black and white images in the village.”„I was aware that what we used to do as war photographers was not translated accurately. A big part of the news was fake news because, at some level, they would translate whatever photos I had taken in a different way. I was putting my life in danger to show the reality and that was not what they were after, so I decided to quit. I didn’t know that I would become a fashion photographer in Paris. I continued down that road because I felt that I could express myself in a different way.“It happened one evening in Beirut when I met Roger for the first time in a hotel bar. A mutual friend had introduced us and said that meeting him would be an enrichment. And so it was. Spontaneously, Roger agreed to record our conversation. Lucky me: I got to know Roger as a humble, intellectual and intelligent person. I was impressed.Born in Beirut in 1962. Roger Moukarzel’s passion started with war photography at the age of a teenager in a conflicted country and region. He worked in this field of photography for the next 15 years and got engagements for Sygma and Reuters. Roger’s photo-documentaries were published around the world and in many international publications. French magazine Paris Match has also chosen one of his pictures – a scene of destruction and mayhem in a Beirut street – to be featured on the cover page of its 40th anniversary book.As time moved on Roger began to question his choice, ultimately leading him away from war coverage into fashion and art photography instead.Thank you for joining us for today’s episode of “The Human Project”! We are glad to have you with us on this exciting journey of exploring inspiring stories