Lionel Macor, Anatolia

Paris based photographer Lionel Macor documented his three-month journey through Turkey, Iran, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan culminating in his latest photography series Anatolia. In this series Macor explores what links Humans to Nature, and questions the concept of housing, capturing the traditional culture and textured landscapes of the region.

How do you recall your first experiences of photography? Photography has always been part of my life. My mum was an amateur photographer and I remember that when I was a kid, she was always taking pictures of us. It was later that I understood her work was more than just family photographs and I decided to learn more about it. It quickly became an addiction and I used photography to express my feelings and document my experiences and travels. 2 years ago I quit my job to live my dream and to travel.

What informs your photography projects today? I usually need to travel in order to make photography. It does not mean that I only do travel photography... Sometimes it can be about an idea or a project inspired by something just outside my window, in my neighbourhood or in the surroundings of Paris. In the end, it’s just a matter of taking distance with reality and daily life... being a spectator more than an actor.

What motivates you to document the places you visit? I want to leave something valuable to my daughter and to give her the taste for travelling. And also because I have a very bad memory! I can’t stand the idea that I’ll forget the places I’ve been. I simply need to do this to find a meaning to all of it: our existence, life, the modern time, the world...

What do you try to capture in your photographs? Life, humans, lines & perspectives... and something else that I can’t really explain. What compelled you to travel through this region of Central Asia? This was actually a three-month journey through Turkey, Iran, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. A kind of initiatory trip for me... I wanted to explore what links Human to Nature, questioning the concept of housing. The people followed are always incorporated into their environment and Central Asia was very interesting for that as it offers “metaphysical” landscapes, extreme weather conditions and a strong traditional culture between Ottoman, Persian and post-Soviet periods.

Tell us about a memorable moment from you travels through Anatolia: When I climbed the Erciyes mountain in Central Anatolia and found this camp of Nomadic pastoralists on my way back... 3 generations of a very same family under 2 tents. We could not understand each other but I stayed there looking at them. They proposed a tea, then dinner and finally, I spent the night with them. I tried to capture the essence of this moment. The humanism and culture that I felt in this moment put me in sync with myself for days to come.

Where would you like to travel next? I’m currently travelling in the Balkans (between Belgrade and Sarajevo) to go further into the Ottoman period and explore how it influenced western borders of this empire when it fell down in the late 19th century.

To see more of Lionel's photography, visit his website www.lionelmacor.com

Or follow him on Instagram: @lionelmacor