Tony El Hage at Photomed: Up Close with the Stars
Born in Beirut, Tony El Hage is primarily a press photographer. For Photomed, he went through his archives from the 1980s, back when he was starting out in France. “I remember almost every photo. Sometimes it’s very moving, like a box filled with surprises,” he says. At the time, everything was possible for a young man entering the photo world.”You could just bluff your way into a job back then. If you tried that today, they’d arrest you.” Hage bluffed his way into meeting stars like Catherine Deneuve, Yves Saint Laurent and Clint Eastwood. He went to concerts, parties, runway shows and festivals one after the other. In this selection of 32 portraits, Lebanese politicians rub shoulders with the rising stars of the fashion world.
His photographs appeared in the international press. As a young man, Hage took portraits, “without a specific theme in mind,” but looking back 30 years later, he sees a few recurring ones: “the hands, the cigarette—I didn’t realize it at the time. Now it jumps right out at me.”
Tony El Hage also photographed the Lebanese community in Paris during the civil war, including the politician Camille Chamoun and the writer Amin Maalouf. These portraits are part of long-term project that will one day be turned into a book.
FESTIVAL
Photomed
January 17 – February 16, 2014
Tony El Hage
Jewellery Souks
Beirut
Lebanon
