S3:E11 Mugur VĂRZARIU, Fotograf documentar, realizator de film si activist social

Conversatii cu Anca. Despre initiativa, antreprenoriat si imobiliare. Gazduit de Anca Birda

Mugur Vărzariu este activist, apărător al drepturilor omului, fotograf de documentar si realizator de film. După o cariera de succes in marketing si strategie (Unilever, Grey Worldwide, Saatchi & Saatchi, Trout and Partners), Mugur Vărzariu a ales sa se dedice muncii sociale voluntare, venind in apărarea celor mai vulnerabili membrii ai societății.

Prin imaginile si textele sale, Mugur Vărzariu actionează ca un scut împotriva abuzurilor, mobilizând atât opinia publică cat si cele mai importante ambasade si organizații internaționale. Premiat de CNN, UNICEF, POY’i, Cinepolitica (Omul Rosu), ANR (Premiul de Excelenta pentru Activism Social).

Mai multe detalii pentru cei pasionați de oameni si de fotografie găsiți pe www.mugurvarzariu.com, pe Instagram @everydayromania, @varzariu sau pe www.youtube.com/mugurvarzariu.

From the outset of his career, through assignments in Syria, Tunisia and Egypt, Romanian born photographer Mugur Varzariu understood the importance of his trade, and made the decision that shaped the future of his photography.

“I could either follow everyone else or follow my conscience,” he explains. “I felt the impact of my pictures on one hand, and the suffering of the people I was photographing on the other. So I had to find another way to operate.”

Consciously choosing not to join photojournalists jumping from one story to the next, he sought out stories that remained untold and delved deeper into his subjects than the superficial contact the industry normally allows. Deciding instead to tell the stories of those left behind, the unrepresented ones existing forgotten, ignored on the edges of our societies. Roma communities, prostitution, human trafficking, abandoned children, the elderly, obesity, Holocaust survivors and post communist era social issues have all been explored in Varzariu’s work.

He juggles corporate assignments and magazine shoots, with work on humanitarian issues. “When I work I am constantly aware of the economic pressures on me as a family man,” he explains, “ and “I refuse to waste the time and suffering of my subjects by not being prepared. Working with those principles in my mind means I never, ever squander an opportunity, I must get it right, for their sake and for mine.”

Clients include: Newsweek, Getty, AFP, Vice, Stars and Stripes, Dodho, Photo Magazine, The Digital Camera, El Pais, Forbes, NYT, The Guardian, NRC, BBC, CNN, Mariane, The Brussels Times, etc.