On February 14, renowned photojournalist Moisés Saman spoke to Belmont Hill about his life as a conflict photographer as the latest Kageyama-Hunt global speaker. Saman covered several topics during his speech, beginning with his fascinating upbringing in Spain and schooling in America before pivoting to his career as a conflict photographer. Notably, Saman focused on showing humanity in all places, as displayed in several photographs that depicted daily life in the face of devastating conflict.
Born in Spain to a Peruvian father and a Spanish mother, Saman grew up in the shadow of his father, a conman who later faced time in prison. At 18, he emigrated to America, where he spent several years in Los Angeles at university. A professor showed him a photo journal of the Balkan wars, and Saman then decided to pursue photojournalism as a career. He secured an internship and then a full-time job in photojournalism, first moving to New York before his travels abroad. In America and Spain, Saman never felt he wholly belonged to any one culture or country, being of Peruvian descent in Spain and being Spanish in the States. While from a wholly different background, he uniquely sympathizes with his subjects.
Saman began his career by photographing the war-torn Balkans following the collapse of Yugoslavia. Afterward, he spent time predominantly in the Middle East, where he displayed the Arab Spring through a unique lens. In 2014, he was accepted to the prestigious Magnum Photos and published two books, Discordia and Glad Tidings of Benevolence.
After his time in the Balkans, Saman was in the Middle East during the September 11 terrorist attacks. He was one of the first photojournalists in Afghanistan as the war on terror began. Later, he spent time in Iraq, photographing the military conflicts of the country even in the face of enemy fire. There, he managed to survive a horrific helicopter crash.
During his time in the Middle East, Saman found that his passion was not for attention-grabbing action shots but for photos of daily life. He felt these held a deeper significance. Saman explained that these photographs represented humanity and life’s best and worst aspects. He desired to give light to people often overlooked in the press and discussed his time journaling people’s struggles more recently in the famine-stricken mountains of Sudan.
The chapel was a resounding success with students and left a profound impact on the community. In fact, Mr. Duarte stated that it was the quietest chapel he had ever heard due to sheer fascination across the student body. Sammy Flood ’26 remarked, “The chapel was eye-opening, the combination of his story and the pictures alongside it jarring and memorable.”
