Staff Profile: Nishan Simonian

Nishan Simonian

Any regular attendee of an AUB lecture or event will find it hard not to notice the bustling photographer eager to get the best shot. Meet Nishan Simonian, the photographer of the Office of Information and Public Relations for the past fifteen years.

Simonian has been working in the photography business for almost three decades. Born and raised in Lebanon, he first started working as a jeweler, but soon realized that was not what he was cut out to do. He said he found the job too tedious and meticulous, and instead shifted to photography in 1977, when he offered to help during the Lebanese civil war as an assistant in various photo shops. He started off with the Sayak Photo shop, where he earned his firsthand experience in photography. After a while, Simonian moved to the Tellyan photography lab, where he helped in developing films, printing, and enlarging photographs. He moved around in various photo shops in Hamra and Beirut, until he found a job at the Blue Studio photo shop. There, a part-time employee at the American University of Beirut informed him of a vacant photographer position at the university. He took advantage of the opportunity and has been at AUB since 1992.