Edmond Terakopian: Perpetual Motion
The world, it would seem, is an ever-more unpredictable place: summer floods test the great British resolve; terrorism knows no borders; and conflict continues to dominate the media. That the news is being made and broadcast every minute of every day can only mean one thing: pictures are in demand like never before. With blogs, news sites and the 24-hour broadcast media all crying out for up-to-the-minute images, time waits for no man... or photographer.
Award-winning photojournalist Edmond Terakopian is part of this dizzying news cycle, dashing around the UK and beyond to hunt down pictures that convey the true impact of a situation in a way that words alone rarely can. “It’s by no means a ‘normal’ life”, he admits. “The good old-fashioned nine to five doesn’t exist. Everything is driven by the story, and that can happen at any time of the day or night”. Fortunately, Terakopian reveals that he feels ‘physically uneasy’ without his camera. “I do worry about having a big night out”, he says. “There’s no guessing when a story will break and it’s time to hit the streets. It’s a big commitment and it controls your life”.
Camp For Climate Action, Heathrow Airport, August 2007 - © Edmond Terakopian
Naturally, such a demanding job requires a kit bag that would make most budding snappers weep with envy. At the heart of it all sits a 15-inch MacBook Pro running Aperture. “I switched to the Mac after seeing Aperture”, he explains simply. “It’s the most useful piece of software I’ve ever come across. I’ve found that 80 per cent of the time I don’t need any other software. I’m mainly shooting jpegs, and Aperture gives me complete control of any corrections I need to make. Yet it can be extremely subtle in its operation, which is very appealing”.
When it comes to cameras, Terakopian is a Canon user, with a couple of 1D MkII bodies complemented by a pair of full-frame 5Ds for good measure. Lenses are key for reportage, and Terakopian’s go right up to 500 mm. This is a serious game after all. There’s no doubt that working for the biggest press agencies in the world demands the best and most reliable equipment: “The MacBook Pro gives me speed, mobility and — just as important — stability. I don’t have time to waste”.
This is a job that frequently takes him to the scene of disasters, whether natural or man-made. One such freak of nature marked the beginning of his photographic career. The great storm that hit the UK on October 16th 1987 was the worst weather event to affect the South of England for nearly 300 years. Sixteen people lost their lives and some 15 million trees were felled. Whilst most 18-year-olds were anticipating a day off college, Terakopian only had one thing on his mind — he had to get pictures.
Until that moment, Terakopian’s photography had been a hobby. Despite gaining inspiration from the Magnum stalwarts, he’d only read about photographers being paid for commissions. This, though, was his day and he was determined to seize it. He did just that, being first into the local paper with his shots while the real photographers, along with the country as a whole, were starting to wake up to an unprecedented night of weather. Terakopian would be paid a miserly four rolls of film for his pictures, time and trouble. But it was a start.
From that moment on, Terakopian has forged a career that has seen him him cover such diverse events as the London bombings of July 2005, the war in Karabakh, various London Fashion Weeks, the Iraq war demonstrations, Princess Diana’s funeral and the tenth anniversary of the Armenian earthquake — not to mention 2007’s remarkable flooding across Britain. He is undoubtedly drawn to extreme, emotional, situations. “There’s no choosing where the day will take you, or for how long”, he remarks. “A story has a life of its own and can run and run”.
When the rain just wouldn’t stop across central England through June and July 2007, a story began to grow that would take Terakopian on a week-long tour of the devastation, dramas, humour and tragedy. He explains: “The global news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP) asked me to cover the floods. It was a story that had already become big enough to be attracting international attention, but on this occasion I was given the freedom to attack the commission in my own way”.
For Terakopian this means going out of his way to get access to the true story and what’s happening to real people. He sums up his philosophy in a nutshell: “Humanity is the foundation of any image. Then comes the journalism aspect, and then the photography. It’s not your story, it belongs to your subject. You must never forget that”.
