Back in the early nineties I came across a lot of famous books on archeology, history and oriental culture and that is when the Middle East region became my passion. In 1998, when I was at the college, my grandfather took me on a holiday trip to North Africa. Since then I continued to travel across the Islamic countries as an archeologist and a photographer. Most of the photographs were taken during my archeological missions.
,,The Middle East” 1999-2009 – text
A trip to Iraq in 2003 was an experience I will never forget. I visited it during the autumn season and was able to photograph the part of the country inhibited by the Shia’s, just a few months after the American operations. I witnessed a restoration of the Holy Cities of An Najah and Karbala whilst a lot of pilgrims from Iran and Central Asian countries were visiting them.
Two years later I went to Egypt where the streets of Luxor and Assuan were filled by a warm light, colourful spices and an overwhelming sounds of bustle. For me, that was an essence of the oriental world and one of the happiest encounters with Islamic countries. The rest of the photographs were taken in Kurdistan in 2006, followed by the images of the Sultanate of Oman when I settled back here in 2007.