The Qajar Lens: Diversity in Qajar Photography

A Photo Exhibition, March 26 - May 4, 2018. Curator and Organiser: Dr. P. Khosronejad, Iranian and Persian Gulf Studies, Oklahoma State University, with the support of Dr. A. Fazel. This exhibition should be considered one of the first academic venues where scholars and also the public could observe the history of photography in Iran between 1850 to 1900. The phenomenon of photography during the Qajar period is quite a recent research topic. As students of the field argue, the first camera probably arrived in Iran only three years after the creation of the first Daguerreotype in France in 1839. Jules Richard (d. 1891) was one of the first foreign photographers to be invited to the Qajar court; he took the first Daguerreotype photograph of Naser al-Din Mirza (b. 1831-d.1896), the thirteen-year-old prince and future king of Iran. This is perhaps how our young prince was attracted by this magic box for the first time. Naser al-Din Shah began his reign on September 5, 1848 when he was seventeen years old. We are unaware of any photograph attributed to him as the photographer before 1858. However, the existence of several photographs and photographic manuals inside Naser al-Din Shah's court dating back to the 1850s may lead us to think that between 1848 and 1858 some photographers practiced this art inside the king's court, and obviously he could have developed his knowledge and training during this period. Yet of course again there are no official documents to confirm the fact that Naser al-Din Shah was trained in this or other arts under the supervision of such masters as Jules Richard.