Born in 1988, Taha Ghouchkanlu is a well-known Iranian astrohotographer and ethnographer living in Tehran. Now he is one of the active photographers of the international project “World at Night”. About 40 photographers from 25 countries have participated in this project to reconnect people with this forgotten nature by presenting exquisite images of the combination of landscapes and wonders of the starry night sky. His interest in photography and night sky dates back to Taha’s childhood and adolescence; When he started studying astronomy at Zaferaniyeh Observatory in Tehran. Then he quickly became interested in astrophotography. First he started photographing with semi-professional analog cameras, but his career began and peaked with the advent of digital cameras.
Since 2006, he has focused on photographing deep-sky objects and planets. After a short time, he started his collaboration with the core of photographers of the Society of Moon and Planet Observers in the Jupiter section by presenting high quality images of planets, and after a short time in 2009, his first deep sky published in famous magazines and websites like Sky & Telescope Magazine of US.
In the years following, his images were frequently published on NASA’s astronomy picture of the day website, Sky & Telescope magazine, astronomy magazine, and domestic magazines such as Nojum Magazine and Night Sky Magazine, as well as many domestic and foreign websites.
Since 2011, Taha has significantly increased his focus on nightscape photography, and his interest in traveling to new and amazing places and finding exquisite landscapes for photography, marked his progress in this field of photography. His trips collection photos include pristine places in Iran and other countries such as Kenya, Madagascar, Uganda, Tanzania, Morocco, Nepal, Bhutan, Indonesia, China, Russia, northern Scandinavia and other such countries.
Taha’s images collection from around the world made him a member of the International Night at Night project, earning a position at domestic and foreign photo festivals, publishing numerous images as book or magazine covers, and publishing numerous images on well-known photography websites.
One of his main activities is a long history of teaching photography and astrophotography under the title of astrophotography workshops in various universities and colleges, including the world at night astrophotography workshops in Iran, astrophotography workshops in Tehran, Amirkabir Science and Technology universities, multiple courses (more than 100 courses and workshops) at the Night Sky Institute, Astronomy Magazine and Aseman Atelier, as well as judging numerous astrophotography competitions.
He is also director of one of the major photography studios in the field of photography and filmmaking, which founded in 1390. Aseman Studio is one of the oldest children’s studios in Tehran, which provides the highest quality photography and filming services in Tehran with cooperation of talented young artists.
His latest work is a project called the “Solidarity among Nations” started in 2020 with the aim of photographing and documenting people from different nations and showing the differences between their lifestyles and the effects of modern life on traditional life.