Caren Firouz was born in Shiraz, Iran in 1962. Before the Iranian revolution he went to the West to continue his studies. A severe motorcycle accident derailed his plans to study veterinary medicine, so he began making pictures of his former rugby teammates and became interested in photojournalism.

Upon graduation from Oklahoma State University with a BS in journalism in 1987 he went to work for a small weekly newspaper group in northern Virginia. After one year he began to pursue a career as a freelance photojournalist, doing work in the Washington DC area before going to the Maine Photographic Workshop to attend a three month workshop called the Master of Photojournalism.

Caren worked with successful photojournalists, editors for major publications and owners of major agencies while in Maine. This is where Caren met Howard Chapnick and arranged with Howard to be represented by Black Star while based in Iran.

 

 

 

Caren worked in Iran during the Persian Gulf war and, in the spring of 1991, went to southern Iraq in to photograph the Shi'a uprising against Saddam Hussein's government after the war. In April 1991 Caren Firouz went to Iraqi Kurdistan to cover the Kurdish uprising on assignment for Newsweek, resulting in the April 15, 1991 cover.

Later in 1991 the Iranian authorities rescinded his press credentials so Caren went to work in Africa. He was in Somalia for the landing of the US marines on the shores of Mogadishu and then went to Kenya and Rwanda for further assignments.

After several months in Africa he was forced to return to Iran to look after family affairs, however the Iranian authorities still would not issue press credentials. Caren began to do commercial and advertising photography in Iran until 1998 when press credentials were reissued albeit for only six months.

Since 1998 Caren has worked as photo editor for Reuters Picture Service in Iran. Outside of Iran, Caren is a photographer for Reuters covering stories including, Afghanistan, Iraq, and the 2004 Athens Olympics.