Joyed to share the second part of a great chat with Neale on the new season of the Friday Photowalk.
Wreath-laying ceremony at the memorial khachkar (a carved Armenian Stone Cross memorial sculpture) took place after a remembrance service and prayer of intercession, to commemorate the 105th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide of April 24th, 1915, when 1.5 Million Armenians were massacred by the Ottoman Empire. A member of the clergy swings a censer (a type of thurible) of incense. The usual wreath laying ceremony at The Cenotaph, attended by hundreds, was cancelled this year due to the COVID 19 lockdown and instead took place on church grounds. St. Yeghiche Armenian Church, Cranley Gardens, South Kensington, London, UK. April 24, 2020. Photo: Edmond Terakopian
The new season has a fresh, new approach to podcasting and I hope you can listen throughout. If you’d like to jump straight to my segment, skip forward to 00:54:51 minutes. I’m discussing my passion for photography, street photography, wedding photography, shooting video and a new hobby I started during lockdown which has led to an entirely new genre of photography for me! I would urge you to listen to the entire episode though as it’s very enjoyable and informative.
The marriage of Katharine and Ilicco. London. September, 2016. Photo: Edmond TerakopianAn absolute icon and masterpiece of lasting, timeless design; the Montblanc Meisterstück 149 (Platinum-Coated) Fountain Pen. London, UK. August 01, 2021. Photo: Edmond Terakopian
Part 2 will be published the following week and I will make sure to post about it. The entire episode is interesting with a fresh, new approach to podcasting and I hope you can listen throughout. If you’d like to jump straight to my segment, skip forward to 0:45 minutes. I’m discussing our new group exhibition called Unlocked as well as various aspects of being a photojournalist, what photography is for me, social media and also the pandemic. I would urge you to listen to the entire episode though as it’s enjoyable and informative.
Observer picture editor Greg Whitmore, who is leaving the newspaper, looks back at the photos that made the news during his quarter century at the helm of the picture desk.
Absolutely honoured to have my work featured in this gallery of images, spanning 25 years of our modern history. The honour is even more amplified when I look at the phenomenally powerful work from talented and devoted colleagues with whom I’m sharing the page, but also by the fact that the gallery was curated by such an extremely well respected and talented picture editor with true Fleet Street heritage.
You can see the gallery here and also read about the legendary Greg Whitmore’s experiences at The Observer here, covering his near 30 years at the paper.
You can read more about London’s darkest hour in recent history and my experiences on that day, here. The same photograph from this awful day was called one of the world’s most iconic photographs by the Daily Mirror.
A tad late on posting this, but much has been happening! You may have already caught the superb set of interviews by Neale James on his Photography Daily Podcast.
If not, catch them on his website. If the search doesn’t come up automatically, search for ‘Edmond’ and you should see a list of all the recordings.
Over the three episodes, we spoke about many topics within photography and photojournalism. Some of the main parts were about governmental censorship, the importance of local newspapers, my inspirations, books and my career as a photographer.
Photography Rules, Essential Dos and Don’ts from Great Photographers is a new book by Dr Paul Lowe. To say that I’m delighted to be part of this amazing book would be putting it extremely mildly! I’m humbled to be in such great company and touched by Paul’s kind invitation to be part of this wonderful project. Sharing pages with one’s own inspirations and heroes in photography is quite literally, awesome.
Photography Rules; Essential Dos and Don’ts from Great Photographers. A book on photography by Paul Lowe, featuring the work and advice by 177 photographers, including Ansel Adams, Richard Avedon, Diane Arbus, Brassaï, Eve Arnold, Elliott Erwitt, Annie Leibovitz, David Hockney, Don McCullin, Nadar, Irving Penn, Chris Steele-Perkins, Sebastião Salgado, W. Eugene Smith, Garry Winogrand and Edmond Terakopian. London, UK. August 05, 2020. Photo: Edmond Terakopian
As photographers, we all consciously or more often, sub-counciously form our own philosophies and rules. Be these ethical, compositional, a work ethic or technical. Ways of approaching life, interacting with people, the technical aspects of photography or camera techniques that serve us well.
This fascinating insight from some of the most amazing photographers, stretching back to greats like Ansel Adams or Richard Avedon, Brassai to Bresson, is not only interesting but thought provoking, enlightening and inspirational.
As Paul Lowe writes, “The book is not a systematic ‘how to’ guide to photography but it does have a reasonably logical progression of entries, organised into three main categories of rules: ‘Making Photographs’, ‘Being a Photographer’ and ‘Professional Practice’. These follow the journey of the photographic process from even before the image is made through to building a long- term corpus of work to its distribution to the world. Individual genres and approaches to photography are interspersed throughout, covering fields such as portraiture, documentary and photojournalism, landscape and commercial photography.”
This book is going to appeal to an extremely wide range of photographers; seasoned professionals to those who are at the start of their journey in photography. Not only do I see this as becoming essential reading for every student in photography, but also for photography enthusiasts and amateur photographers who want to get an insight into the thought process of the authors behind some of the images they admire.
My own contribution, is about my personal approach to photojournalism, the ethics I live by and is listed in the ‘Being a Photographer’ section of the book. The beginning of the text reads, “The award-winning photojournalist Edmond Terakopian reminds us that, when documenting other people’s lives, especially in situations of distress, ‘it’s not your story, it belongs to your subject. You must never forget that.’”
Photography Rules; Essential Dos and Don’ts from Great Photographers. A book on photography by Paul Lowe, featuring the work and advice by 177 photographers, including Ansel Adams, Richard Avedon, Diane Arbus, Brassaï, Eve Arnold, Elliott Erwitt, Annie Leibovitz, David Hockney, Don McCullin, Nadar, Irving Penn, Chris Steele-Perkins, Sebastião Salgado, W. Eugene Smith, Garry Winogrand and Edmond Terakopian. London, UK. August 05, 2020. Photo: Edmond Terakopian
It accompanies my photograph documenting life, 10 years on from the devastating earthquake that struck Armenia. “A Woman Prays in an Armenian Church in Gyumri, for the Souls of Those Who Died in the Armenian Earthquake, 1988.”
Edmond Terakopian. London, UK.
The photograph from Gyumri was shot on a Leica M6 with a Leica 35mm Summicron, using Kodak Ektachrome slide film.
Photography Rules, Essential Dos and Don’ts from Great Photographers is out now and alongside good bookshops, is also available online from Amazon.
Biography: Dr. Paul Lowe is a Reader in Documentary Photography and the Course Leader of the Masters programme in Photojournalism and Documentary Photography at the London College of Communication, University of the Arts, London, UK. Paul is an award-winning photographer, whose work is represented by VII Photos, and who has been published in Time, Newsweek, Life, The Sunday Times Magazine, The Observer and The Independent amongst others. He has covered breaking news the world over, including the fall of the Berlin Wall, Nelson Mandela’s release, famine in Africa, the conflict in the former Yugoslavia and the destruction of Grozny.
Very happy to share that a portfolio of 5 of my images has been selected for the next stage of the Urban Photo Awards.
Wreath-laying ceremony at the memorial khachkar (a carved Armenian Stone Cross memorial sculpture) took place after a remembrance service and prayer of intercession, to commemorate the 105th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide of April 24th, 1915, when 1.5 Million Armenians were massacred by the Ottoman Empire. A member of the clergy swings a censer (a type of thurible) of incense. The usual wreath laying ceremony at The Cenotaph, attended by hundreds, was cancelled this year due to the COVID 19 lockdown and instead took place on church grounds. St. Yeghiche Armenian Church, Cranley Gardens, South Kensington, London, UK. April 24, 2020. Photo: Edmond Terakopian Panasonic Lumix S1 with a Lumix S Pro 16-35mm f4.0 lens.
A portrait of Jim Connor (former picture editor, The Herald, Glasgow) enjoying a pint of Guiness at The Long Hall pub in Dublin, Republic of Ireland. January 17, 2020. Photo: Edmond Terakopian Sigma fp with a Leica 35mm APO Summicron SL f2.0 lens.Opera singer Ida Ränzlöv (mezzo-soprano) in her dressing room ahead of her performance in Ian Page’s visionary MOZART 250 series, 1770 – A Retrospective. In conjunction with Classic FM. Wigmore Hall, Wigmore Street, London, UK. January 09, 2020. Photo: Edmond Terakopian Sigma fp with a Lumix S Pro 50mm f1.4 lens.Fashion designer and independent British luxury brand, Joshua Kane, in his flagship store at 68 Great Portland Street, London, UK. July 23, 2019. Photo: Edmond Terakopian Panasonic Lumix S1R with a Lumix S Pro 24-70mm f2.8 lens.Easing Of The Coronavirus Lockdown In England begins today with non-essential retailers being allowed to open if they adhere to social distancing rules. Harrods opens it’s doors to shoppers who began queuing over an hour before the 11am opening of the store. Knightsbridge, London, UK. June 15, 2020. Photo: Edmond Terakopian Panasonic Lumix S1R with a Lumix S Pro 16-35mm f4.0 lens.
All the images were made using the L-Mount camera system. Three images were shot on the Lumix S Series with Lumix S Pro lenses and the other two images were shot on the Sigma fp with a Leica APO Summicron SL lens and a Lumix S Pro lens.
All photographs were from raw files, edited and processed in Adobe Lightroom and finished in Exposure Software’s Exposure X5, with the monochrome image being finished in DxO’s Nik Collection, Silver Efex Pro.
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