TIRANA, Nov 5 /ATA/ – Gani Xhengo, a photojournalist who worked for the Albanian Telegraphic Agency (ATA) from 1970 to 1998, visited the photographic exhibition “32 Images, 32 Stories – An Albania in Transformation” at the Klik Ekspo Group trade fair on Thursday, sharing memories and insights from his career in one of Albania’s most important documentary photography departments.
Xhengo said he felt privileged to have been part of ATA for 28 years, paying tribute to the photojournalists who preceded him and helped shape the agency’s photographic legacy.
“I am honoured and privileged to have been an ATA photojournalist and to have followed in the footsteps of masters who made history at the agency, including the Ristani brothers, Jani and Vasili, Mehmet Kallfa and Sotir Bej. I also had the opportunity to work alongside contemporaries such as Ilo Bero Golloshi, who headed the department when I joined ATA and helped modernise it by importing equipment and purchasing expensive cameras,” Xhengo said.
He recalled the photographic equipment used at the time, including the Linhof, a rare and expensive manual camera, as well as the Japanese-made FT 3 and Rolleiflex models.
ATA’s photography department, he said, operated as a fully fledged photographic production unit, producing and processing thousands of images over more than two decades to document political events and everyday life across the country.
The photojournalists’ work extended well beyond Tirana and political events, covering a broad range of social, economic and institutional developments, from education and healthcare to construction and other areas of national life, he said.
According to Xhengo, the photographs were used to document the activities of state institutions and distributed for domestic use as well as to Albanian embassies abroad.
He noted that, despite photography’s propagandistic role under the political system of the time, importance was also attached to verifying information and ensuring accuracy.
“Even a single photograph has historical value. It contains information, substance and professionalism. It has it all,” Xhengo said.
He also highlighted photography’s importance as documentary evidence and an integral part of the country’s historical memory.
The Albanian Telegraphic Agency’s stand at the Klik Ekspo Group trade fair has also attracted Albanian and international visitors interested in the exhibition.
Through the selected photographs, visitors can explore moments, events and developments illustrating Albania’s transformation over the years, as well as the documentary value of ATA’s photographic archive.
Photographs taken by ATA photojournalists over the decades now form an important documentary collection, reflecting the country’s political, economic, social and cultural developments across different historical periods.
Beyond capturing individual moments, the images preserve a record of the country’s life, its people and the events that shaped different eras, making them a valuable resource for researchers, the media and future generations.
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