Photography Collection Spanning 48 Years Shows Lost Side of Middle East

For nearly half a century, Colbert Held took photos of the geography around him. A former United States Foreign Service officer, Held’s collection spans 48 years and 17 countries.

“I had decided that the entire time I was in the Middle East I was going to keep a detailed photographic record of all my landscapes and have a real collection of geographic photographs,” Held says in a short film about his collection, filmed by Jennifer Smart in collaboration with the Middle East Institute. In total, Held took some 20,000 images, and they tell a story that, often, no longer exists.

Many of the places destroyed by Daesh, for example, live in in his photos. In this way, it’s not only about the photographs, but the stories they tell and the memories they hold.

Turkey, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Kuwait – all are part of his collection and featured in the film, which shows us clearly how photos captured half a century ago can continue touch lives even today. You can see the video below:

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