Kamran Adle
Photographer
Iran

Kamran Adle was born in 1941. He went to elementary school in Tehran and his high school years were spent partly in Tehran and partly in France. He holds a diploma from the technical college of photography in France. After receiving his diploma, he began work at Hamele, the largest developing and printing laboratories in Europe, in the large format photographic printing department. After spending six months with Hamele, he became assistant to Jack Rouchon in fashion photography. But, this profession failed to satisfy his searching spirit and he returned to Tehran in 1968, at the invitation of the newly established National Iranian Radio and Television Organization to head the photography team. At the same time, he began teaching at the Cinema and Television School for Higher Education. His collaboration with the School lasted only one year, due to the political debates put forward there. Afterwards, he concentrated his efforts on the National Iranian Television Organization and the training of its future staff. In 1971, the students of the School for Higher Education went on a widespread strike and demanded Kamran Adle’s return to the school. As his duties had increased sharply during this time, Kamran Adle entrusted his colleague, Mr. Ali Farzaneh, with the tutorials while supervising the courses and technical work. This continued until his resignation from the Organization in March 1974. During his employment there, Kamran Adle was active in all photography fields and founded modern journalistic photography, stage photography (television, theatre, cinema and the Shiraz Art Festival), architectural and social photography and set up the archives of the Organization using modern methods. Finally, he resigned from the Iranian Radio and Television Organization due to unfavorable circumstances, where the non-fostering of aspirations and sell-outs had become a way of advancement.

From 1975 until the Islamic Revolution, he worked with the offices of the ex-Queen of Iran, photographing carpet museums, Reza Abbasi, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Kerman Industrial Museum, Rasht Museum and various photography work for publications, including seven volumes on the Implementation of Design in Iranian Tile Works, Passage Through Chahar Mahal & Bakhtiyari, and The Contemporary Architecture of Iran.

From 1979, he began his cooperation with the newly-established Agha Khan Cultural Foundation as photographer of the jury for the Agha Khan Award for Architecture, also taking photographs of various cities in the Islamic world. This is an on-going work.

He was also very active at home, photographing the biggest industrial centers and architectural activities. These include the progress of building work at the Ahvaz Steel Complex, the Tehran Underground operations, the former National Parliament and Islamic Parliament renovations, and the Islamic Conference Center at Sa’d-Abad (The Ministry for Housing and Urban Development).
Kamran Adle also has substantial activities in the fields of art and culture and participates in various activities, the last of which is his Iranian Garden installation at the Sa’d-Abad Gardens (March 2005).

Apart from his regular occupation, Kamran Adle has also worked on numerous collections, a part of which has been published and part is waiting to be published. His collections include:

- 1968-1979 The Religious Ceremonies of Iran
- 1968-1979 The Bazaars of Iran
- 1970-1972 The Archives of Iran
- 1975 The Carpets of Iran
- 1975-1976 The Photographs of Iran, the ex-Pahlavi Library
- 1975-1977 The Implementation of Design in Iranian Tile Works
- 1975-1977 The Yazd Collection
- 1976 The Bushir Collection
- 1976 The Chahar Mahal & Bakhtiyari Collection
- 1976-1977 The Contemporary Architecture of Iran
- 1979 The Qom Collection
- 1981-1988 Ahvaz Steel Complex
- 1986-1987 The Tehran Underground
- 1985-1999 The Tehran Collection
- 1999 The Isfahan Collection
- 2000 The Shiraz Collection
- 2001 The Turkmen Sahra Collection
- 2003 The Passargad, Naqsh Rostam and Persepolis Collection
- 2006 The Bottles of Iran
- 2004 The Indian Collection – The Agha Khan Cultural Foundation
- 2005 The Architecture of Kuwait - The Agha Khan Cultural Foundation

Publications:
- Passage Through Chahar Mahal & Bakhtiyari
- The Implementation of Design in Iranian Tile Works – seven volumes
- The Bazaars of Iran
- The Residence of the Ambassador of Italy in Tehran – Printed in Rome
- Those Who Turn Dust into Gold
- Those Were the Days

Online Publications:
- 2001-Todate Iran Journal of Photography
- 2001-Todate Iran Journal of Art
- 2004-Todate Iran Journal of Architecture (also available on CD)

Exhibitions:
- 1977 The Washington Exhibition
- 1988 Unusual Post Cards
- 1990 Iranian Bazaars
- 1991 Shiraz Photographs
- 1998 Estanboli Potatoes
- 1999 Iron Wires
- 2000 Food Cans
- 2001 Bottles
- 2002 A Look at Tehran Mice
- 2003 Tehran Stray Cats
- 2004 Mid-Summer Sun
- 2005 The Iranian Garden Installation – Sa’d-Abad Gardens
- 2005 India – The Agha Khan Cultural Foundation
- 2005 Mahan Shazdeh Garden, Photos of the common stamp of Iran & Spain



Caroun Photo Club (CPC)