Inside View: The Eye Behind the Lens

by Michael Varga, Roxanne Davies

My job as a sports cameraman took me around the world. I met thousands of people and worked on hundreds of assignments. I recorded stories at nine Olympics, four Commonwealth Games, the Pan Am Games and World Track and Field, FIFA World Cup, World Cup skiing events around the world, figure skating championships, many Grey Cup Games and six Canada Games as well as hundreds of NHL hockey games. When I look through the lens I read people instantly. A lens can amplify facial expressions. I see the emotion written on their face. Are they happy or unhappy, worried or confident, relaxed or anxious, secure or insecure? After working for over forty years in this industry I’ve come to realize that being the guy behind the camera was a comfortable place to be. Three things were important in my family, work and the women I loved.

291 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 16, 2018

About the author

After serving in the Peace Corps in Chad, Michael Varga became a diplomat serving primarily in hotspots in the Middle East. He served as a Foreign Service Officer with the U.S. State Department in the United Arab Emirates, Syria, Morocco, and Canada. He served in Washington, D.C. in the Economic bureau and as the desk officer for Lebanon when the last American hostages were released in the 1990s. He was also a Pearson Fellow at the World Trade Center Miami. He holds a Master’s degree in Economics from the University of Notre Dame, a Bachelor’s degree in English from Rider University, and is a certified teacher.

Michael is a playwright and actor, as well as a writer of fiction. Three of his plays have been produced, and “Collapsing Into Zimbabwe,” a short story, earned him first prize in the annual competition sponsored by the Toronto Star. In 1988, the BBC broadcast “There Are No Kangaroos in Egypt.” His columns have appeared in various newspapers and journals. Michael appeared in the Glenn Ford movie, Casablanca Express, where he played a GI medic. Even now, he can still repeat his lines. For other works by Michael Varga, visit his website at www.michaelvarga.com. He is currently working on a novel about the Foreign Service. He lives in Georgia where he often—even to this day-—has Chad on his mind.