Bahman Jalali, one of the pioneers of Iran's documentary photography, is famous for the brilliant frames he recorded from the twists and turns of Iran's contemporary history, From the 1957 revolution to the 8-year war. He had a broad and profound influence on the formation and development of photography and its training institutions; the two later generations of Iranian photographers are the borrowers of the legacy of the camera and the institutional activities of this prominent artist.
In 1966, Jalali entered the National University of the time, now Shahid Beheshti, and studied economics and political science. From his student days, he picked up a camera, and according to his spirit and education, he became interested in this art's social and documentary aspects. His first artistic success coincided with his graduation, and in 1970 he won the Young Amateur Photography Competition award. This success was a prelude to the beginning of Jalali's long-term collaboration with Tamasha magazine, which was renamed Soroush after the revolution, and this collaboration continued until 1996 and his retirement. One year after this award, in 1971, the first solo exhibition of his photos was held in Kandriz Hall. He, an experimental and self-taught photographer, left for England in 1975 to continue his studies in the field of art and studied at the John Vickers School of Photography in London for one year and became a member of the Royal Society of British Photographers. After returning to Iran, he exhibited the photos he had taken in London in the "City Gallery" and was able to attract the attention of the Iranian artistic community even more. With the arrival of the 1957 revolution, Jalali's camera was also present in this historical hot spot and recorded pure images of the struggles of the fighters and the government in the street. Some of these photos have been published in the book "Days of Blood, Days of Fire." After the revolution and the beginning of the war, he went to the war zones, and the souvenir of this dangerous trip was a brilliant collection of his professional career. In one of his other prominent projects, Jalali traveled to different parts of the country with Asad Behrozan, a renowned Iranian scholar who prepared a valuable image archive from all corners of Iran. He also traveled to African countries and published a collection of photos from this trip in a book called "Black African Art."
Jalali, with Ahmad Ali, one year after the revolution, launched a bachelor's degree in photography at the Faculty of Broadcasting. He was also one of the founders of "The City Photography Museum." Jalali was continuously active as a photography instructor in the educational and academic environment such as Tehran University of Art and trained many students. He also played an essential role in the spread of photography through participation in photography festivals in different regions of Iran.
Jalali is one of Iran's renowned photographers in international circles. In 2007, the Tapis Barcelona Foundation held an exhibition to review Bahman Jalali's photos. His photos have also been displayed in countries such as France, Germany, Finland, former Czechoslovakia, Spain, Australia, etc.

Although Jalali's camera is always present in the "decisive moment" and in the heart of the flood of events, despite empathy, it always maintains its critical distance from the subjects, and despite accompanying historical and social currents, it is not digested in them. Pakbaz writes about this referential quality of Bahman Jalali's photos: "Jalali's gaze as a documentary photographer has always been sharp and devoid of sentimentality. His insight in recording the revolution's events can be recognized in photos such as Determine your path before reaching the bridge. His photographs during the war also emphasize the destruction of various aspects of the modern urban space in the absence of man rather than conventional images of events. The names of his two books of war pictures are the names of two cities in Iran: Abadan that fights (1981) and Khorramshahr (1972).
Along with his documentaries, Jalali has created a series of photomontages using the glass negatives of Golestan Palace and historical photos from the Qajar period. In his artworks, Jalali reflected on the historical identity of Iran and the issue of gender with a humorous look. Some of these photos' backgrounds are mirrors, mixing the present self and the individual viewer with their historical past. The mentioned collection has been one of Jalali's most popular and successful artworks in the art market and international auctions.
Bahman Jalali's first appearance in auctions dates back to 2007 at Christie's auction house. Until October 2021, his artworks have been continuously present in domestic and foreign auctions 56 times, and 73% of his artworks have been sold in international auctions. His most expensive work until 2021 was hammered at Christie's auction house for $20,000 on November 9, 2016.