The Rebirth of Photojournalism in Iraq

On June 4, 2011, IREX sponsored an Advanced Photojournalism Course through a small grant to Iraq’s first photo agency, Metrography. Founded by international photographer Sebastian Meyer and Iraqi photojournalist Kamaran Najm, Metrography is the only Iraqi photography agency covering all 18 of Iraq’s governorates. The funding allowed 22 Iraqi photographers to participate in an intensive two-week workshop led by International Picture Editor of TIME Magazine Patrick Witty, award winning Iranian photographer Newsha Tavakolian, documentary photographer, writer, and journalist Kael Alford, and English photojournalist Anastasia Taylor-Lind. The training focused on how to create photojournalism stories that are of the highest quality and standards demanded by international media outlets.  The workshop helped increase the professionalism, quality, and marketing skills of Iraqi photojournalists, allowing them to better serve the citizens of Iraq with compelling visual storytelling and improve their competitiveness in the international photography market.

It is hoped that in turn it will be possible for Iraqi photographers to report on their country through their own “cultural lens” for the foreign press by introducing market-driven sustainability as a strategy to support Iraqi journalists beyond specific program and funding durations. Following the workshop, the Iraqi photojournalists had an exhibition on June 12 in Sulimaniyah to display 22 photo essays entitled “Iraq through Iraqi Eyes.” More than one hundred individuals came out to show their support for the rebirth of photojournalism in Iraq. Witty wrote in his recent blog post “Iraq through Iraqi Eyes” on TIME’s website, “I wanted them to show me a side of Iraq that a tourist wouldn’t see, a side of Iraq that a western journalist couldn’t discover. I wanted them to show me their Iraq. And they did, beautifully.”

IREX administers the Media and Technology for Community Development (MTCD) program in Iraq, which strengthens independent media and local participatory governance using Information Communication Technology.  MTCD is a program of the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor.

The photo essay and captions below came from the Iraqi Metrography photographers' stories.