Author: Yalda Pashai Photography
Yalda Pashai, born in Iran, moved to Canada early in her life for further education, where she found her passion in photography. She processes a constant desire for knowledge and understanding in photojournalism and the creative arts. Yalda graduated with a BFA in Photography Studies from Ryerson University in Toronto. Fluent in English, Farsi, Azeri and Turkish, Yalda lived in different countries as a child where she understood the importance of culture and the effects of language barriers. This has greatly influenced her work and to travel, using photography as a powerful tool to tell the story of others.
She is available for projects.
~2014
2
Calm Skies
Year 2
I know I’ve been away for… 2 years.
Yesterday, Sep. 7th was a rough day emotionally, with everything feeling still fresh. Not everyone can easily define the worst day of their lives, but we can. The goal has been to find strength everyday to wake up and carry on.
Chi-City
Home is where the heart is, right?
If it’s true, why am I so uncomfortable here?
This is my home, I have a house here,
And I love my friends here, so why do i feel so out of place?
I may be older, but my wounds haven’t healed.
My heart is missing there,
Because my home, is not here.
-Poem by Charlotte Lidia, with slight changes by me.
“If a man knows not to which port he sails, no wind is favorable.”
A moody christmas
In this cold weather, all I can think about is the warm summer nights.
A night of comfort
Repent
Persistence
A woman
Today, on International Women’s Day, I’m thinking of a woman so dear to me, whom at age 86 proved to everyone around her that it is never too late to fight for your right! She stands tall and stronger than ever.
… Women all over the world continue to struggle for basic equal rights.
Sam
A 23.
This is what my world feels like these days.
My beautiful Roma
CAT
“The next state in Europe: Catalonia”
I felt cold, even when you had your arms around me… you were telling me about different things, while I was off in my mind seeing different layers.
Inside the Walls
Opening launch of the LGBTQ Festival’12 in Dublin. Presentation of Illumination:
Exhibition of Inside the Walls in Homeless Gallery, Dublin:
A unique reunion
After at least a decade later I returned to Turkey. But this time…. it was to witness a totally different story.
A different view.
- A whole new world
Marlene
A new project in progress:
Digital Photography Workflow May 2012
Illumination
Illumination is a multi-media project I created for my thesis in 2011, as some of you already know. One of my talented friends Rahim, who’s also one of the subjects in Illumination, has written a piece for The Ethnic Aisle on being a queer Muslim using the image below to express himself visually.
To read the article please click here.
times could be rough around here
… the rituals
finding my way to you
17th of march
moon & fire
father & son
Spain in Piccadilly Circus
light of music
A truly inspiring performance of Hafez’s poetry in London England, brought me back to my roots. Once more I was reminded and proud to come from such rich culture. Thank you Ardeshir Haghighi (direcor) and everyone else in the band.
Faith
Back in Ireland again; an interesting project might sparkle here…
A moody trip.
A walk through Vancouver and Victoria, BC.
Blocked.
white rockies
Tehran
These two images are not what I think of Tehran. I didn’t spend a lot of time shooting on the streets in Tehran, so my pictures are limited to this. I have never really spent a lot of time there, even when I used to live in Iran. I find it really hard shooting on the streets of Tehran and a sense of insecurity when I’m there. The first image was taken right after I arrived in Tehran, and the next image is one of the last shots outdoor in Tehran. So there is a bit of a contrast here; you can tell just by looking at these two photographs.
Tabriz, limited.
I’m not “allowed” taking pictures from this angle? Says mr. officer? … we’ll see about that.
An exhausting party
let me be.
Three women whom I’ve learned a lot from during my stay in Iran. Note: Ayla (on the left) did get in trouble for not wearing her hijab by the National Park’s officer. She got away with a warning– since it was a beach in Julfa which is near borders with Azerbaijan. Later on we all felt uncomfortable with the gazes of all the officers; so we decided to leave.
This was a place outside of Tabriz where you could ride horses in circles… I didn’t dare.
Something more familiar
In Iran, back “home”, everything smelled familiar, felt familiar, sounded familiar… everything I touched and saw felt natural. But I think natural might be a strong word to use here… Though it’s hard to put words together to explain how I felt, I’m going to say my heart and mind was filled with vulnerability, anxiety, irritation and yet comfort, carefree, love and confusion.
These images are from a short work called Stay With Me.
Iran '11
And the start…
Studying for an exam at the mosque.
Mianeh, Iran ’11
An old mosque in Mianeh, Iran.
Strolling around in circles at the mosque.
The colors, the textures and the smell of old Persian rugs in an old Mosque in Iran.
Visa pour l’image
Beside going to all the exhibitions, lectures, presentations, portfolio reviews, networking etc…. photographers and artists also know how to party right! …
And nice beaches in Perpignan!
I don’t usually do self portraits but I had to give it a try in Perpignan, on the balcony where I’m staying.
Perpignan
I’ve arrived and sort of over whelmed with the amount of photo exhibitions here during the Visa Pout L’Image festival! Can’t help but getting more excited each day!
namjoo
If I could only understand every word, every metaphor, every symbol he uses in his music, i would love him even more!
A walk to the stars
The good times
Hands and feet
Body language
Magnum Photos
Magnum Photos Workshop last month was so inspiring! 5 days of intense shooting and crits! Ah I miss it already!!!
Celtic Connection: Scotland & Northern Ireland
My blog is starting to look like an advertising for tourists/traveling :( :( Sorry! I better start making ART during my traveling!
Celtic Connection: Ireland
Another adventure was taken in Ireland, Northern Ireland and Scotland!! Even though the weather was a bit chilly and massive clouds would sometimes attack the sky, I still had an amazing time and had some “good craic” with the Irish lads!!!
Defiance from Abroad- Egypt/Tunisia
“Weeks of unrest in Tunisia eventually toppled President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali earlier this month (January). Egypt has many of the same social and political problems that brought about the unrest in Tunisia – rising food prices, high unemployment and anger at official corruption. Thousands of people had joined the protests in Cairo… vowing to stay until Mubarak’s government fell. There are deep frustrations in Egyptian society, and is widely seen to have lost power, status and prestige in the three decades of President Mubarak’s rule.” -BBC, Janaury 2011.
These images were taken during the protest in Toronto on 01/29/11.
…
Desperately seeking INSPIRATION.
Dumpster Diving!
Dumpster diving is the practice of going through commercial and/or residential trash to find items that have been discarded by their owners, but may be useful to the dumpster diver. It is the art of claiming others’ waste. Food is a commonly dumpstered item, as nutritious food is constantly thrown away due to aesthetic imperfections. Dumpsters are full of food items passed the expiration date but perfectly safe to eat. Everything from bread to jars of jams and sauces to fruits and vegetables and boxes of snacks. These food items are not deemed “shelf worthy” by producers, and therefore thrown away as they will not be purchased by the consumer. Food Not Bombs is a global anti-hunger movement that gets a significant amount of its food from dumpster diving at small markets and corporate grocery stores. They believe food is not a privilege, but a human right and everyone deserves access to healthy food. Food Not Bombs shares free vegan and vegetarian meals with the hungry in over 1,000 cities around the world to protest war, poverty and the destruction of the environment. – Erica Podlowski
Yalda Pashai Photography 