photojournalist Farid Khayrulin :: Baku photo, Azerbaijan photo, foto, photogallery, oil photo

In 2000, Khumaj, a prestigious national award, was granted for the first time in the nomination of “professional photography”. The first award in this nomination was granted to Farid Khayrulin, a renowned Azerbaijani photojournalist.

- I have always had aspirations for meaningful journalistic photography. That is why the job of a press photographer has never appealed to me, even though I worked in “Baku” for quite a long time.

Many things in our profession depend on a perception of the world, on a subjective vision of it. And this vision is in turn determined by the general level of culture, by the books read throughout one’s life, by experience. I see many of my works even before taking a photograph. Than is, I see an approximate image of the final frame. That is because it has long been forming it in my mind, in my thoughts. Remember the Bible: "In the beginning was the Word"?

- Didn’t the introduction of state-of-the-art cameras that any untrained amateur can handle lower the status of photography as a profession?

- You know, a man can have any camera, even the most sophisticated and "advanced", but the key element of photography is still a man. Even my colleagues, professionals, will not do things the same way I do. Perhaps they will do better, not worse, but in any case their work will be different. Everyone has their own perception of the world. The beauty of my work lies in its infinite variations. Infinite like life itself...

One can testify the truth of these words looking at the photographs that Farid prepares for his first personal photo album. The photographs on the subject of the Caspian Sea Environment are particularly striking. Black clouds of smoke over NBOP, the oil wasteland on Absheron, a dead part of the sea, destroyed beyond any hope by oil projects. The images are powerful, sharp, highly expressive and dramatic. And the viewer feels that the photographer is not some stranger but a person who is bound to this land by blood and is deeply concerned with everything that happens here.

When asked about the best award he has received for his work in photography, Farid Hairulin usually replies "My greatest award is life".