The world through the lens: how a Kazakhstani got into the White House and filmed President Obama

The same photographer who makes iconic shots of people in Times Square, spoke about his life in the capital of the world. Arken Avan was not so popular when he lived in Almaty (Kazakhstan). But moving to New York changed his life. Today he can boast that Tom Hanks, Tom Cruise, and even the President of Switzerland got into his frame. Each of his characters is unique, as Arken told the magazine. Comfortable.

Arken moved to New York in 2011 when he was 23 years old. Everything happened unexpectedly - in Kazakhstan, Arken decided to take part in the competition of videographers for Coca-Cola, although he was not a videographer then. As a result, he won a trip to New York in this competition.

He arrived in the city on a tourist visa and took on any job. At the beginning of his journey, he worked as a hookah, dishwasher and waiter in order to survive in the metropolis.

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He had to work in a hookah room for 15 hours a day, but one day he realized that he was tired of such a schedule. Arken has always been fond of photography, but he understood that without knowledge of English and connections, he would not be able to master this profession in New York. He wrote to dozens of photographers asking them to hire him as an assistant. But none of them answered, then Arken decided to act on his own.

"I'm a street guy"

In photography, Arken considers himself a "street guy".

“I fell in love with her (the street), she taught me a lot here,” says Arken.

She gave him popularity. Once he filmed passers-by in Times Square and, at the request of one passerby, gave him the name of his page on social networks. The passer-by turned out to be an employee of the White House, who eventually sent him a letter inviting him to the presidential administration for a photo shoot.

Arken was very surprised by what he saw there. Everyone who spoke to him in the White House knew his name and title. Instagram pages. He was given an invitation, and then he filmed ... the dogs of President Barack Obama.

“It feels like I came not to the White House, but to two beautiful dogs,” Arken shared his impression. But on that day, the 44th President of the United States also ended up in his lens.

sincerity of the street

That's how shooting passers-by on the streets of New York, Arken became recognizable. Kazakh takes pictures of passers-by, especially he likes to take pictures of couples in love. He usually shoots marriage proposals unplanned. Once he shot a pair of Griffin and Saya. A few days later, Griffin died in a fire in Oakland.

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Arken saw a message from Saya asking him to find the photographer who filmed them in Times Square. He gave the photos to Saya, but he did not even expect that he would be featured on ABC7 tomorrow.

Undoubtedly, street photography brings Arken a huge amount of emotions, because it is very sincere.

“I like street photography, the same street photography. She is honest, lively, genuine. I am interested in everything. I love experiments. People are always interesting to me, and it’s very exciting when, during filming, you see the transformation of the soul and even hear the thoughts of a person, ”says Arken.