Date: Sunday, 5 February 2017
The 6th edition of the “Iranology Photo Festival” entitled “Manifestations of Iranian Culture and Art” was held on 5 February 2017 following a special ceremony. The exhibition section of this Festival will continue for one week. The inauguration ceremony of this event was held with presence of the deputies of the Iranology Foundation, Board of Referees of the Festival, owners of selected works, Iranologist researchers, and lovers of the art of photography. At the beginning of the program, Dr. Alizadeh, Director of the 6th Iranology Photo Festival, while extending the warm regards of the President of the Iranology Foundation to the participants, read his message to the 6th Iranology Photo Festival, as follows:
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
Time and life are God’s gifts to you, so be ware to appreciate them as much as possible. The correct and appropriate use of opportunities is an art which belongs to knowledgeable, astute, and efficient people, and the consequences of conscious punctuality and meticulousness are extremely influential and long lasting. Iranian artists have ornamented an important part of the cultural treasures of the world with their beautiful and creative skills. Photography is the creative art of recording moments and entails the praiseworthy efforts of artists who create images of various aspects of life and the passing time. In this way, they provide us with documented tokens which are reminiscent of the colorful manifestations of life, nature, and creativity. Now that the opportunity has been provided for your valuable art to create picture of the cultural and artistic works of the land of Iran and produce tangible, visible, and durable images of its glorious spiritual treasures, you are expected to reflect their history and richness in your works as thoroughly as they deserve and, as always, combine your artistic views with a sense of responsibility, experience, and awareness in order to introduce the beautiful picture of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the glory and magnificence of our country to the whole world. I pray to Almighty God to grant health and success to all the esteemed artists and colleagues who made it possible to hold this Festival. May peace and Allah’s Mercy and Blessings be upon you.
Seyyed Muhammed Khamenei
In the rest of the program, Dr. Alizadeh provided a report of the processes of holding the 6th Iranology Photo Festival and judging the quality of the received photos. Accordingly, 5061 photos by 734 photographers were sent to the Secretariat of the 6th Iranology Photo Festival. 3290 photos were entered in the professional category and 1771 in the amateur category. Following the review process, the Board of Referees chose 90 photos by 72 photographers, including 77 photos in the professional category and 13 photos in the amateur category, for the Festival Exhibition. At the end of the Festival, 10 photographers, including seven professional and three amateur photographers, will be awarded prizes, a commendation letter, and a Festival logo. Moreover, each of the photographers whose work is displayed in the exhibition section of the Festival will receive 1,000,000 rials for each photograph as the publication fee.
Next, Dr. Motarjemzadeh read the statement of the Board of Referees of the 6th edition the Festival, as follows:
In the Name of God
Greetings to all the photographers and photography lovers who displayed their commitment to presenting a visual reflection of the various beautiful and innovative manifestations of the culture and art of our dear country, Iran, by sending their precious works to the Festival. While acknowledging the vastness of the theme which had been announced in the Call for the Festival and accepting the related criticisms, each of the members of the Board of Referees choose between 200 and 300 photos (from among 5061 photos) individually at the first stage. Next, they examined them through group work. However, the variety and indescribable beauty of most of the photos, on the one hand, and the limitations imposed on the number of accepted works and presenting them, on the other, had made their job very difficult. Finally, 90 photos were chosen to be exhibited in the Photo Festival.
In the next stage, in order to select the best photos, the Board of Referees, after consulting with each other and receiving the consent of the esteemed Festival holders, decided to introduce 10 photos by 10 photographers as the selected works of the Festival. The purpose here was to award more prizes and encourage photographers to pay more careful attention to effective cultural values. The criteria of the referees for selecting the best pictures included the following items:
- - Paying Attention to and concentration on the subject and explicitness and simplicity in photographic expression
- - Including the technical photographic features with the least amount of post-photography editions
- - Exercising an emotional effect on viewers and making them happy, and enjoying thought-provoking and constructive aspects
- - Being up-to-date
- - Presenting rarely witnessed visual images of the cultural and regional variety of Iran
- - Enjoying visual beauty
The Board of Referees hopes that the goal-oriented and systematic continuity of such important events in the realm of Iranian culture and art can encourage professional and nonprofessional photographers to develop a more profound view of the sights and subjects around them and to show a higher level of creativity in their works more than ever before.
Afshin Bakhtiar, Kavoos Sadeqloo, Mostafa Sadr, Seifollah Samadian, and Mohammad Khodadadi Motarjemzadeh
February 2017
In the next part of the program, the prizes of the selected photos in the two professional and amateur categories were awarded. Mehran Cheraghchi Bazar, Peyman Hamidipour, Javad Rouin, Ahmad Zafari Hashjin, Sina Shiri, Jaber Gholami, and Mahmoudreza Moinpour in the professional category, and Sara Beigmohammadi, Mehrdad Jamali, and Moslem Goudarzi in the amateur category received their prizes and honor awards.
The final part of the program was visiting the Photo Exhibition of the 6th Iranology Photo Festival. This Festival began on 5 February 2017, and interested people could visit the Exhibition for one week from this date at 10 am-16pm. The Iranology Foundation is located at the following address:
Iranology Street (West 64),
South Bahaei Street,
Tehran, Iran
