REZA | Photographer

Afghanistan

Peace Warriors

Dear Friends, As you know, the digital era and the appearance of such initiatives as crowdfunding can bring about amazing social benefits. It promotes the democratization of ideas and creates truly international communities who can come together over meaningful projects. But that being said, the crowdfunding model implies a principle of competition and creates a race against the clock for money, which often clashes with the values of the projects which are proposed. Today, many artistic and social projects can be realized step by step. In most cases, we know that it is not necessary to have the entirety of the required funding to launch their dreams. According to the rules, if we do not receive the targeted amount, we collect nothing ñ thus, sadly, no donations were acquired on our last campaign. However, I remain determined to push on. On the scale of the history of humanity, I am merely a wanderer passing through. I have shouldered the responsibility of committing to a better world. This is why, today, I feel the need to create an interactive e-book, which provides information and education in six languages, in order to show the world the singular life paths of these warriors for peace, who work day in and day out for Afghan freedom. It is for this reason that I wanted to rethink our methods of managing our collective financing, in collaboration with Indie Voices. We came up with an innovative model, called Flexible Phased Funding, which breaks down the fundraising process to bring it into line with the phases of the project. We have applied this to the Afghanistan Peace Warriors project. I feel confident that this new form of collective financing will enable even more worthy projects to come to fruition, and I hope that the community of Peace Warriors who are mobilizing around us will now be able to perceive crowdfunding as an opportunity for a long-term commitment.
In friendship,
Reza
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The Silent Heroes of Humanity

International Solidarity Week
exhibition by Reza: DroitS à l'essentiel

As a young schoolboy in my native Iran, I discovered the verses of Sa'adi Shirazi, a 13th-century Persian poet and great traveller. I understood then that the message he left us was truly a timeless one, one which eventually became a blueprint for the United Nations. His message was that the actions of each being can be harmful, or create a virtuous cycle on a global scale: Read More ..

Massoud, warrior for peace by Reza

What is the best way of propagating the dreams of a warrior for peace? This question has always intrigued me. How to make one’s own the battles for a better world and for lasting peace in a region disturbed by so many decades of conflict? In this age when digitalization is universally accessible, the response to this is to spread the dreams of a man who dedicated his life to freedom and to peace throughout the world and throughout the Afghan population. Read more..

Soul of Coffee by Reza, texts by Rachel Deghati, a book translated in 7 languages.

On the ancestral roads of the coffee fields, the humanist photographer Reza, after an immersive work of several months, discovers the plantations of India, Colombia, Brazil, Guatemala, Ethiopia and South Sudan, supported since 2003 by the Nespresso AAA Sustainable Quality(TM) program. Through the testimonies of the photographer and the coffee producers, farmers Read more..

Land of Tolerance
Reza's exhibition at the United Nations, in New York and at UNESCO, in Paris.

Through my photographs, I have always tried to capture testimonies of human kind, particularly in places where different cultures intersect. For thirty years I have travelled the roads of the world examining religion. From covering the great myths of the Bible to the hajj to Mecca, I have crossed paths with diverse groups of people with varying religious beliefs and cultures, all brought together by a mutual respect for the other. Not too far away, there is a place where Christians, Muslims and Jews live peacefully on the same land. Read more..

Take part in My Vision photo contest!

Since 1979 I have tried to create a form of complicity between my camera and the people I photograph, who are willing to let us look inside their soul through their eyes. Today, their pictures are exhibited in several cities around the world as part of the Fenêtres de l'âme (Windows to the soul) and Chants de café (Soul of Coffee) exhibitions. With My Vision photo contest, I invite you to submit photos of those exhibitions and share your own vision of the stories told by those pictures.

Many prizes:

a meeting with Reza to discuss photography, books signed, DVDs, the winning photographs will be shown on social networks & Reza's websites... More details

#myvisionreza

Exhibition Fenêtres de l'âme - REZA tells the story of human universality

Throughout the path of life, the errors of man, and the turmoil of history, the violence committed due to the desire for power, all seem insignificant. In the march on humanity's long road and endeavors towards peace and perfection, it counts for very little. They are only small steps in the process of evolution. Ever since Reza's first encounter as an adolescent with social injustice in Iran, his mission Read more..

Exhibition Soul of Coffee - REZA pays tribute to the coffee farmers

On the ancestral roads of the coffee fields, the humanist photographer REZA, after an immersive work of several months, discovers the plantations of India, Colombia, Brazil, Guatemala, Ethiopia and South Suda,.

Through the photographer's encounters with the coffee producers, farmers and agronomists, Read more..