Portraits IV; A portfolio of Iranian Literati, Vol 2

By the time the book: ”Portraits (I)- A Portfolio of Iranian Literati” by Maryam Zandi depicting the portraits of contemporary writers, poets, translators and literary celebrities was published, after many years of hard work, it was considered a new direction and a major event, either in connection with producing a book of portrait photography or as an exquisite work of printing black and white photographs. Publication of this book proved to be a prominent pattern for many photographers to follow and to become interested in portrait photography of the contemporary well-known personalities, and in case of finding a publisher , developing and dispatching them to the book market.
In the past ten years Maryam Zandi has succeeded in publishing two other books: ”Portraits of Iranian
Contemporary Painters” and ”Portraits of Iranian Contemporary Movie and Theater Artists” in addition to reprinting her first book, all of them, the result of her own endeavors and personal expense. Maryam Zandi gained new and valuable experiences with the publication of these books, by revealing the artists• characters in their natural surroundings and studios and developing a similar collection of portraits in similar conditions, with different poses, using flash photography.
After completing ”Portraits (Ill)” Maryam Zandi began photographing literary personalities for the second
volume of ”Portraits (I)” and ”The Collection of Women and Culture” as well as ”The Contemporary Musicians”
The second volume of the literary portraits is now in your hands. Haft Rang Publications, published a
number of photographs of ”The collection of Women and Culture” in a calendar for the year 1383. Hopefully if everything works as planned, the unique collection of ”The Contemporary Musicians” will be completed and published as soon as possible.

Maryam Zandi, through a combination of intelligence and instinct has revealed the characters behind the interesting and thoughtful images of ”Portraits (IV )”. She has achieved this new composition by showing her aesthetic understanding, which is not transferred to or from anyone in any form but through her experiences gained by many years of arduous work. A photographer’s aesthetic understanding should be so powerful in such works that with the short time of being involved with people of different temperaments, one could capture their spirit and soul, with proper composition and correct lighting. This album is the proof of such an achievement.

I heard once an old author with a pleasant accent saying to Maryam Zandi, ”Ms. Zandi, I was expecting you to come one day and knock on my door to add my portrait to your album. I know it is a difficult job to photograph the celebrities of literature, art and culture of this country for the past twenty years, but there are still many who have gone unnoticed. It is late and time is short and there are still many who have remained.”

Ebrahim Haghighi
2004

Translated by
Safdar Taqizadeh