Barely 26 years old, Ed Ou is one of the most promising members of Reportage by Getty Images. He just received the ‘Young Reporter’ prize at the 19th edition of the Prix Bayeux-Calvados for war correspondents. The jury was presided over by Gilles Peress from Magnum photos.

This year, he was selected for the TED Fellows program. In 2001, in Amsterdam, the World Press Photo drew attention to his work, as well as Visa pour l’Image in Perpignan. It was on this occasion that this interview was conducted.

Michel Puech: How did you discover photography?

Ed Ou: Photography has been a hobby of mine since childhood. I’m very lucky to have grown up in the digital age. I’m a product of these new technologies. With digital cameras we can take as many pictures as we like without wasting film. Without digital, I’m not sure I would have started taking pictures.

MP: When did you decide to start doing this professionally?

EO: I started when I was still in college, where I was studying international relations and Arabic. It was a very eventful period in the Middle East and I decided to focus on the area. As a student, I traveled to Palestine, Jordan, Israel and Lebanon. It was a turbulent time for that region, especially in Gaza. And then there was the war in southern Lebanon.

Actually, it was during that war that I started taking pictures professionally. I started with wire services and sent some photos to Associated Press and Reuters. For me it was another way to continue my studies, because I wanted to compare reality with what I’d learned in school. I noticed a difference between what you read and what you see on the ground.I wanted to confirm that difference and see where I stood. That’s what led me to become a photographer.

MP: What were your first professional awards?

EO: It’s hard to say. The first was the PDN 30 when I was 21. Then for my work in Palestine and the Middle East I was awarded a prize from the Overseas Press Club of America, but that was just for students. Then I was selected for grants by POY and Getty, which allowed me to finance some of my projects.

Michel Puech

Read the full text of this interview on the French version of Le Journal.

Les Rencontres du Prix Bayeux-Calvados des correspondants de guerre
8.10.12 - 14.10.12
14400 Bayeux - France