Page 449 - Art and Crafts of Bangladesh

446 ART AND CRAFTS

in Tokyo in 1976 Azizur Rahman alone won five prizes. In 1983 Bangladesh
70
Shilpakala Academy published a booklet entitled Azizur Rahman with his
photographs (pl. 10.4). The proprietor of the first organization introducing modern
technology to printing and processing color photography, ‘Padma Printers and Color
Ltd.,’ Khan Md. Ameer (1943- ) is himself a talented photographer. Alhaz Abu Taleb
was an amateur photographer. Moreover, among commercial studio based
photographers Nurul Azfar Tota Mia (Vista Art Studio), M. A. Rahim (Continental
Studio), Mortoza Towfiqul Islam of Chittagong, Hasan Abdul Monaem of Rangpur,
Motahar Hossain of Rajshahi (Star Studio), Mohammad Ali (Bengal Color Lab),
Ashraf Ali Malo of Bogra and many others made important contributions to various
aspects of photography. Most noteworthy for the overall practice and diffusion of
photography among this generation are Golam Kashem Dady, Alokchitracharya M.
A. Beg, Naib Uddin Ahmed, Amanul Haq and Noazesh Ahmed.
Golam Kashem Dady (1894-1998), Hon. FBPS, Hon. FIIPC 71
Golam Kashem Dady was the senior most photographer of Bangladesh and one of
72
the foremost pioneers of photographic practice of this region. In 1912 he first began
photography with the box camera of a friend in Kolkata. 73 Since then he was
passionate about the medium and was dedicated to its practice and growth till his
death. He began to reside in Dhaka permanently in 1949 and in 1951 he formed
‘Tropical Institute of Photography’ with the aim of teaching photography. He played
an active role in the founding of the ‘Camera Recreation Club’ and patronized it to the
fig. 10.17 (top) Golam end. He wrote prolifically on photography. For the 150th anniversary of photography
Kashem Dady, an exhibition of his photographs taken from 1918 to 1935 depicting natural scenery,
photograph Nafis life of the people, professions, fauna, children and spontaneous portraits of that period
Ahmed Nadvi, was held in Dhaka.
© Nafis Ahmed Nadvi
Amanul Haq (1926-)
fig. 10.18 (bottom) Amanul Haq is the most major and renowned photographer of Bangladesh. The life,
Amanul Haq, culture, lifestyle and nature of Bangladesh is colorfully portrayed in his work. 74
photograph Nafis
Ahmed Nadvi Alongsides, many photographs on society and humanism, his Amar Desh series of
© Nafis Ahmed Nadvi photographs attracted everyone’s attention as they continued to be printed for many
years after the independence in the Saptahik Bichitra presenting the eternal image of
Bangladesh. He was in contact with world famous film-maker Satyajit Ray for a
number of years and photographed his personal life and work as well as doing still
photography of Bengali films of those days. The most memorable event in Amanul
75
Haq’s life is doubtless photographing the bullet hit head of martyred Rafiq Uddin
Ahmed, shot and killed by the police on 21st February 1952. This is ‘the only
historical photograph of the language martyrs.’ Amanul Haq compiled a book
76
entitled Ekusher Tamasuk (2003) on the photographs he took spanning a period of
over half a century from the Language Movement of 1952 and the various Shaheed
Minars (martyrs memorial monuments), people observing martyrs day, the Central
Shaheed Minar demolished by the Pakistan army in 1971, etc.