From the outset of his career, through assignments in Syria, Tunisia and Egypt, Romanian born photographer Mugur Vărzariu understood the importance of his trade, and made the decision that shaped the future of his photography. “I could either follow everyone else or follow my conscience,” he explains. “I felt the impact of my pictures on one hand, and the suffering of the people I was photographing  on the other. So I had to find another way to operate.” 

Consciously choosing not to join photojournalists jumping from one story to the next, he sought out stories that remained untold and delved deeper into his subjects than the superficial contact the industry normally allows. Deciding instead to tell the stories of those left behind, the unrepresented ones existing forgotten, ignored on the edges of our societies. Roma communities, prostitution, human trafficking, abandoned children, the elderly, obesity, Holocaust survivors and post communist era social issues have all been explored in Vărzariu’s work. 

He juggles corporate assignments and magazine shoots, with work on humanitarian issues. “When I work I am constantly aware of the economic pressures on me as a family man,” he explains, “and I refuse to waste the time and suffering of my subjects by not being prepared. Working with those principles in my mind means I never, ever squander an opportunity, I must get it right, for their sake and for mine.”