Mission Statement

The photographs on this website span five decades and showcase Norbert Schiller’s work as a photojournalist and documentary photographer. Besides the pictures that he took while working for news agencies, newspapers, magazines, and on book projects, the site features images from personal journeys to unusual destinations. Zina Hemady, an author, editor, and former journalist, also contributes to the website by writing about travels that she and Schiller have undertaken together. Occasionally, we feature other photographers whose work complements the themes covered in the stories posted on the website.

Schiller believes that the lifework of photographers ends up too often buried in boxes, drawers, or nowadays on hard drives or in clouds, and never sees the light of day after the creators of these images have retired or moved on to other ventures. Even though Schiller no longer works in the news business, he remains an active documentarian and photography collector. Over the course of his career, he witnessed significant historical events and took a large volume of photographs documenting these developments and their impact on communities, namely in the Middle East and North Africa. The website features exhibitions reflecting on this period of history and extending to the present, as he revisits those regions and continues documenting their people and landscapes. The exhibitions are thematic with topics which may include a significant anniversary, an extraordinary journey, a historical personality, and many others.

All the photographs on this website are copyrighted. If you are interested in purchasing high resolution images or obtaining copyright permission, please send a request to: nschiller@photorientalist.org.

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