Rıza Ozel was born in Antalya, March 5, 1976. Every moment of his first 40 days was photographed. He finished his primary and secondary education in Antalya. After studying in local newspapers of the city, he started his professional carrier as a sports reporter at Hurriyet Daily's Antalya Office, in 1993. Later on, Ozel continued his journalistic carrier at Sabah Daily and finally in 1998 he started working for Anatolian Agency's Antalya office as a photo journalist. In 2002, he became the photo journalist of Anatolian Agency's photo department at Ankara.
Ozel photographed many international events such as earthquakes, floods, plane crashes, Lebanon War, Iraq War, Euro 2008 and sports organisations. His photos published not only in national newspapers but also many known internatioanl magazines and newspapers. Rıza Ozel is the member of International Federation of Journalist, Association Internationale De La Presse Sportive, Turkish Photo Reporters Association, Turkish Sports Writers Association, Magazin Journalists Associatin, Contemporary Journalist Association of Antalya.