● Birthplace: Abadan
● Died: 2 April 2003 in Kifri, Sulaymaniyah. Iraq
Biography
Kaveh Taghavi Shirazi, known as Kaveh Golestan, photographer, correspondent and cinematographer, was a renowned international and son of Ebrahim Golestan and Fakhri Golestan, a wife of Hengameh Golestan and a father of Golestan. At one age, he came to Tehran with his family and went to the seventh grade in Iran, and from the age of 13 to continue his education to a boarding in England. He returned to Tehran in 1968, and was working in advertising companies as photographer and animator during the years 1969 to 1971. In the years 1971 – 1972, he began a professional photography career in the Northern Ireland with his first press mission, which was the photo and report of the war. In 1976, he began active cooperation with the newspaper and, in its wake, with much effort, the work of providing social reports in the form of three photographs such as construction works, prostitutes, and retarded and mentally retarded children with an exhibition set up : From prostitutes, workers, and insane, at the University of Tehran, the implementation of this project was seized by Savak after a week. Taking 61 photos of prostitutes in The neighborhood known as The New City (Shahrenoo) in Tehran has lasted for about a year and a half that most of this time spent communicating with its residents. The first part of the photos in three successive articles in the newspaper of posterity, titled: Fortress at another Glance, was published in September 1977. Kaveh Golestan, without photography license, had entered the region, Hengameh Golestan, Kaveh’s wife, said in this regard: Kaveh was to take a photo of the literacy classes and The Social worker, which was able to photograph the inhabitants of this place. He went to London in 1983, with his wife and child, where Reflex Media photo Agency was established with several other photographers. During the 10 years of London, he traveled to Iran for photography of war and other events, every year, and sometimes 10 to 12 times.
Kaveh Golestan was engaged in storytelling and directing cinema, photography and journalism. Printing Golestan photos from Iran’s Iranian revolution and the Iran-Iraq war, in many prestigious Western press, has become a familiar name among international photographer reporters and awarded awards. In 1977, with the first movements of the revolution, the protest movement against the Shah was transferred to the people of the world. He went to Abadan oil refinery, his picture of a few workers who closed the oil square on the counter strike and solidarity with the people, the symbol of the people’s firmness against the Pahlavi regime. Golestan, Kaveh, announced the Robert Kappa Award for a photograph of the Imam Khomeini (RA) who is coming down from the airline stairs that brought him from Paris to Tehran. The occurrence of the imposed war and the presence of Golestan to record the events of the war years has once again threw his name over the language and journalism a special place for him in photo and social documentary photography. Kaveh himself has said about his experience of fighting the Baas rule of Iraq against Iran: I sometimes felt that lashkhorm, because we were at the helicopter where the culture and slaughter were, we took photos and assembled the body. During the war, I was always accompanying me. I have washed this cloth again, I have a rose, but the smell of death is still. I feel nothing else scares me. Nothing surprises me. I’ve finally seen it…
Kaveh Golestan, from 1994, was taught to photography in Tehran’s artistic schools. He was a special photographer of the Times Magazine and worked with the Associated Press news agency. He then joined the BBC News Network since 1999 and worked in Tehran. In his documentary: The Record of truth, made by himself in 1991 says: I want to show you scenes that like slap to your face and compromise your security. You can losing a look, you can hide your identity, like a murderer, but you can’t get the truth front, no one can. In the year 1997, he was sentenced to prison for a time to reveal the fate of surrendering children who were kept in an orphanage under cruel conditions and was denied the work of journalism for a while. At the beginning of the attack by the US and British Army in Iraq, he went to Iraqi Kurdistan with a news group including Jim Miur, a BBC correspondent in Iran, Stuart Hughes, producer, interpreter, and a guide. The war news photography in its free and independent form, as Golestan had chosen, is itself an anti-war action. He passes the human dignity in all his photos. In such an analytic study, it is possible to receive that war reporting tool not only seeks to record bitter truths but also beyond it, to show what is absent during the war: Peace, correspondent and war photographer in action and the truth is a message of peace.
On April 13, 2003, he went to the mine blast from the world when he was conducting a shooting mission for the BBC News Network in the 130 border city of km, Kirkuk, Iraq, who was under control of the Patriotic Alliance of Kurdistan. In the last few days before Saddam’s fall, Kaveh surrendered his death in the Iraqi Kurdistan region. Kaveh, who believed that the war photographer had to risk, but to stay healthy to publish his photos, did not observe this logic to always be a heartbreaking day for the Iranian and world photography.
Activities
1971 – 1972 – Inception of concurrent Professional photography in Northern Ireland war
1973 – Photography of children of Iran’s Corners for Franklin Publishing
– Publishing the book: Calico-Center for Intellectual Development of children and adolescents
1974 – Iranian children photo exhibition-Seyhoun Gallery
– The exhibition of Polaroid…-Seyhoun Gallery
– Publishing the book: Golab-Children’s Intellectual Development Association
1976 – Initiating active cooperation with the newspaper posterity
– Publishing social reports such as construction, prostitutes and retarded and mentally retarded children
– Seize an exhibition report called: Prostitutes, worker and insane, one week after the publication by Savak
1976 – Began cooperation with the Journal of Green Magazine
1978 – Photography of Iranian revolution events and publication in Time magazine, Tehran Illustrated and other publications
1979 – Receiving award: Robert Kappa for his photos in the Revolution – 1979 AD
– Photography of political and social conflicts and events in the corners of the country
1978 – Along with Mohammad Sayyad, published in the book: Rebellion, with photos of the Islamic revolution
1980 – Active presence in the fronts with the beginning of war
– Begin cooperation with global photo and photographic agencies
1981 – Publication of the book: War, Alfred Yaghobzadeh
– Participation in teamwork and support the release of Books series and image collection: Revolution Light
– Publication of the book: The Buds in the storm, with Hengameh Golestan about the presence of children and teenagers in the revolution-the intellectual Development Association of Children and Adolescents
1983 – A visit to London along with the family and the founding of the photo -Riflex Agency
– Ten years of London residence and dynasty trips to Iran and photography of documentary and news positions
1991 – Making a documentary: The Truth Record, for Channel Four UK TV
1992 – 1993 – The face of the Iranian literature video interview
– Illustration and documentary compilation: A Dumb lying about the life of Makhmalbaf
1994 – To begin cooperation with the Associated Press Agency (APTV)
1994 – Beginning of photography teaching in Iranian art school
1999 – Getting started with BBC television as a cameraman
