The only photographer in Bangladesh to have shot for the cover of an issue for the GQ Magazine sits down with us to talk fashion photography, life and everything in between.

 

The Prestige: Tell us about the cultural influences in your journey? As a creator which cultural aspects, films, TV Shows you resonate more with?

Well, I would have to go back in time a little bit, to clarify my cultural standpoint. I was born in Sweden and I have lived there, almost – never. We moved back to Dhaka when I was four or five, hardly recalling any Swedish culture. So, back when I was growing up, there were not as many Bangladeshi channels, as there are today. So in a way, Indian movies were my first exposure to a creative medium. As a result, Shah Rukh Khan became my first inspiration and the drama-based settings for my pictures, color palettes, and color-grading techniques started to take shape in light of Bollywood.

I was once asked a question along the same lines in England once, for a ‘Sky’ program. I remember providing the answer in the form of an example, saying if I was watching a lot of Marvel films during a particular week, the colors in the pictures I would end up taking that week would resonate the color palette Marvel uses for most of their films.

Advertisements in Bangladesh witnessed a golden era, during the time-span of 2007-2010. They were almost like short films made to showcase their service put in a certain story.

These were the advertisements that helped me shape a better understanding of my own culture. Real stories of the farmer, the immigrant worker and the quintessential Bengali child really caught up to me; the working class was put into frame in a manner that really mattered.

Then there was this phase in university that really helped shape who I have become today.

I graduated from the University of Manchester in Economics, but I do not really remember much of Economics. I remember what I did in my dorm, the part-time jobs I did, and the numerous interviews I watched on youtube.

I’m more of a visual person, so I really enjoyed watching interactive and innovative interviews of people who were changing the shape of the world. Elon-Musk was one individual I really enjoyed watching and listening to.

And all throughout my life, I’ve been a very visual person, meaning I only attended classes, because whatever I listened to, or whatever I saw, stayed with me.

It’s nothing like having photographic memory or anything, whatever I want to keep from a conversation, lecture, seminar or interaction, stays with me.

 

The Prestige: What is one shot, sound, word or moment that truly defines you?

There’s this quote from 3 Idiots, when Aamir Khan says ‘Pursue excellence, and success shall follow.’   

Which stayed with me in a way that made me constantly work on myself to become better than I was the day before.

I truly believe in working on myself for the sake of my art.

I have never taken a photograph with a business angle in mind, and to this day, it is difficult for me to quote a client in return for my services.

Since, I have never worked with a monetary end-game in mind, I do not know how to ask for money in return for my work. 

 

The Prestige: What is the outlook on life that evolved you into following your desired path?

I would say that my outlook on life is ever-changing. But I’m learning to master the perfect balance between self-awareness and self-development every day. Finding this balance, I suppose, is a step towards uninterrupted progress.

The trick is to not over-do it, because if you do, it might steer you towards a state of depression, perhaps.

Nor can you under do-it, which would make you arrogant, which is just never good.

I’ve crossed thousands of levels of mistakes, and stupidity and moments of ‘Why did I do that’ moments, on my journey to better understand things.

You know you’re on the right track, when those moments seem to lessen over time.

So my outlook on life, keeps developing as I keep learning from mistakes, and aspire to make less. 

And I choose to cope with this ever-growing need for excellence, humility and efficiency by believing in yet another quote I heard somewhere, which I can’t really recall at the moment. And neither am I directly quoting the said individual. The essence of the quote basically communicated the fact that the people who try a 1000 things, might have a 100 mistakes, but the people who never try have only one.

The only one mistake being the absence of any form of effort.

 

The Prestige: As we’ve already pegged you as a person who plays different roles, what were your alternative career choices?

I do not really have an alternate career-choice per se. But, there is something that I immensely enjoy doing that quite naturally spun-off from photography as well.

I really like working towards creating a brand identity.

I really like deciding on color-palettes for brands. Association of a certain reaction by the human mind to a certain color, used for branding a product really boggles my mind.

Another thing I’ve always wanted to do is work in the food industry somehow, because I love eating. 

The dynamics of one’s palette and the concept of an acquired taste really fascinates me.

But, the future really can have so much to bear, if we wanted to.

Because 10 years ago, if I knew I was going to be a photographer, I probably wouldn’t have been one.

So, I don’t know what the future holds for me.

 

The Prestige: How you got to become a photographer and your first pay-check.

Yes, I do. And I also remember having a huge conversation about it with my “shashuri”.

So, I was supposed to switch jobs after working for a year or so, which had me moving from “Investors’ Group” to “Manulife”, which is an insurance company.

But, I wasn’t at the best phase in my life. There was no particular reason behind it, every 23 year old goes through it. The issue I was dealing with at the time is that I graduated way too early. I got done with school in Dhaka and university in England by the time I was 21, and I got a job right away.

And I did not get lucky in terms of getting the job, because getting a job in that economic climate required me to get rejected by 50 firms. Which eventually, led me to understand how to ace an interview. The company I started working for sent me to different universities as a guest lecturer.

So, these sessions had me teaching kids that were older than me, and at work, the circumstances had me working with people who were older than my dad.

And I was working in a country where I knew absolutely no one. So I used to spend a lot of time by myself. And given the head-space I was in, I realized that it wouldn’t have been the best decision to stay by myself in Canada any longer. So, I quit my job and decided to move back to Bangladesh permanently, with the exception of flying back to Canada once because I had left a lot of my stuff back there.

And so, I flew back to Canada, but I changed my mind about going back to Bangladesh once I was there.

That happens with me a lot.

I stayed with a friend for some time, and moved to a newer apartment since I didn’t have my stable job at Manulife anymore.

I had a Canon 650D and a Tamron 28-75 mm lens, which is a weird lens to buy, but I had it.

I started taking photos with that.

Back then, Instagram did not have the direct messaging service. People could send pictures to each other, but you couldn’t exchange messages.

So, I used to send people screen-shots of notes from my phone.

I used to write down my message in the notes, which would usually be an earnest request to photograph them.

I did exactly what we used to do at work. You reach out to a 100 people, 10 people respond, and amongst the 10, at-least 1 or 2 comply.

I was living in a shared apartment, my savings were running out, and I was almost running out of ways to support myself.

Almost miraculously, a mother reached out to me, asking if I could do a photo-shoot of her and her new-born child, for $120.

And I didn’t really have the chance to think twice about selling my art, because it was either that, or staying hungry for an indefinite amount of time. So I did it, and quite enjoyed it at the same time.

After shooting for some more people, birthday parties and jewelry stores, I got a call from a film producer to shoot him at award functions. This was the first photography job for which I was making almost as much as I did during my banking days.

 

The Prestige: What camera setups are you using right now?

I’m using the Canon 6D & 6D Mark II now.

I just owned the 6D at first, bought the Mark II later because of my affinity towards the 6D.

 

The Prestige: How much do you usually spend on photography equipment?

I’m lucky to be operating in Toronto, from a financial perspective. In Canada, there’s provision for leasing equipment out for interest rates as low as 3%, so that you can make the equipment yours in two years.

So, for $ 300 a month, I get to won a 6D Mark II body, 85 1.4, 85 1.2, 51.4, 51.2(all lenses), tripods, Drones, Labs, Pelican cases and sound equipment.

 

The Prestige: Which light setups do you use for shots that seem so natural?

I always try to replicate the light of the sun, it’s always at a 45 degree angle, and that’s what the human eye resonates with the most.

Most of my shots are rendered at my apartment with no external light.

I usually use the western light coming in through my window.

What I eventually add to it, is one fill light that might not be as prominent in photos, but it manages to separate the subject from the background.

I like shooting at lower apertures. 1.4 – 2.8 is my favorite range to be in.

I use a lot of bare-bulbs accompanied by soft fills as well. The raw and harsh shadows they produce are almost sun-like. 

The soft-fill gives the overall backdrop a light, and the bare-bulb provides the model with light.

 

The Prestige: Professional photographers have a bossy way of getting around. What are your thoughts on this, do you instruct your models for posing?

I just can’t. I’m afraid of sounding too demanding.

In my tenure, I have seen that the more I directed models, the more constricted they become. So, usually the only time I ask them to do anything, is if they have already struck a pose, I tend to ask them to re-create it, only adding something different to it, that I end up suggesting.

 

The Prestige: What are your personal aspirations or future proceedings as a professional photographer?

I always know what my next step should be, but I don’t have future aspirations as of yet.

Right now, I want to reduce the frequency at which I shoot.

Because photography is a loner’s world. I personally mark that being in solitude, is a requisite for leading that life. I say that because I have travelled to remote islands for work, with no cell-phone reception before, and I have asked my parents not to look for me.

But I shouldn’t do that right now. Once you have a family, they become a part of you.

And besides, I agree with my model friend Denis, who tells me that, if you do anything for more than 40 hours a week, you are bound to get bored of it. (Which is five days a week, 8 hours a day)

You see, “A photographer is only as good as his last shot”, and I love taking photos. Which is why, in order to retain my love for it, and be thriving to be better behind a camera every day, I must give myself time to relax and unwind.

In order for me to do that, I think being with an artist management company would be ideal for me right now. They represent you and take care of you, because you might not always know the true value of your work in the market, while at the same time, it’s always nice to have an organization looking out for you. Bookings, the resources you need, prioritizing and organization, they do it all.

Another decisive factor contributing to the reduction of the number of shoots I wish to commit to in the future is that I have terabytes of photographs that I haven’t edited yet.

I really want to re-do my website, and figure out the best possible way to deploy the pictures I have in storage after editing them.

 

The Prestige: We would really like you to be more active in Bangladesh artistically. What possibilities can photography in Bangladesh offer you to ensure that?

If I do find something creatively and financially satisfying enough in Bangladesh, that meet my requirements, I’ll do it.

I don’t require much, I just require what I think I deserve.

The country has already provided me with the privilege of meeting my wife, starting off.

But jokes aside, I really think the question I should be asking myself is what I have to offer to the country, artistically.

I don’t really go to Paris and its people what more can they offer me to keep me there? I just go in, thinking of numerous possibilities and options I can offer them with the limited knowledge I have of things.

I go to Paris, just like any other photographer goes to Paris, as a hungry creative individual.

I’d be working in Bangladesh if I was offered an opportunity with the same mind-set. 

The fact that this country housed me until I was 19 should be enough. What more can I expect from it?    

 

12. What do you feel like the future holds for Bangladesh in terms of photography?

Well, the possibilities are always endless, but I really feel that table-top photography has a very bright future in Bangladesh. Because all things popular across all disciplines and sectors, travel the world. I see Bangladesh shifting towards table-top photography in the creative sector.

 

13. Due to your active presence on Instagram, we invite you to join a Prestige fun session

We call it #Weirdflex but okay

The questions we have in store for you are:

Whey protein or nay? – Yay

Cardio, Strength or Weight Training? – Cardio

Legs or Chest? – Legs

 

14. What are your basic photography skill advice for the dummies, the rookies?

The mother of all advices has to be that: “If it looks good to you that is the right photo”. There is no single way to take the perfect photo. The conventional rules most definitely exist. But, if you break out of it, you start to discover your own photographic prowess.

There are different settings for taking pictures of objects that move, and that do not.

So, you mix aperture, ISO and shutter speed to get what you like.

If I’m trying to photograph an object as intricate as jewelry, I would consciously think about keeping the ISO at a 100, but If I’m shooting in a dark room with just one candle, I wouldn’t even think twice about the a customized setting. It’s more about what I feeling I want the picture to evoke in individuals.

 

“So concentrate on what you like, there is no right or wrong in taking a photograph”

 

15. What is your wife’s reaction towards your explicit/nude photography contents?

I wouldn’t really have uploaded the first semi-nude picture I took if it were now.

I only did it because I was in such a desperate state in life, I was fearless.  

But at the same time, I was also very worried about all the stigma I was about to face.

Because there is no part of me that’s white. Afternoon cricket, football on the streets and absurd family gatherings, that’s my life, that never changes, you know. 

I must say that I’m super lucky that my wife is an architect. She understands the artistic aspiration behind any photograph, of a person clothed or nude.

In-fact, one of the models I have shot for and her are super tight now, Laura. 

 

 

16. Noticing your outright affection for your wife, would you share with us how you met such an amazing person?

I would have to backtrack a bit to inform about this auspicious moment of my life. As I mentioned earlier, my wife knew me from my photography exhibitions and she visited those regularly.

But knowing her on a personal level happened two years ago. I can recall that it was during the Ramadan period, I went to The Lakeshore Hotel of Gulshan for Sehri. She also happened to be there along with her family. I remember her making humorous remarks at me along with others in a furtive way. Later on, we formed a personal connection and moved on to make a big decision.