Ako Salemi is an Iranian-born photojournalist and street photographer, now based in the U.S. His poetic images of daily life in Tehran have won international attention, showing city streets under cinematic light and human stories unfolding amid architectural geometry. A Visual Voice Formed by Light and Silence Born in Bukan, Kurdistan, in 1981, Salemi initially studied drama before discovering that photography—especially street photography—matched his introspective nature better. He worked for years as a photojournalist in Iran before turning to a more expressive, poetic style rooted in his love of classic cinema and visual tension . Since about 2014, he has become known on Instagram as @f64s125 , posting visual stories of Tehran shaped by striking light and shadow, formal alignment, and everyday poetry. Gear: The Mobile Camera That Lets Him Blend In Ako Salemi shoots almost exclusively with a smartphone , embracing its speed and stealth for street photography: He began by...
"The camera is an instrument that teaches people to see without a camera" - Dorothea Lange