Abdul Momin

I was born in a small village in northern Bangladesh. It’s name is Baghopara which means “Village of Tigers.” But in reality, it was a village of poor people and we used to live below the poverty line. My father used to sell flip flops in the streets. After my school classes, I would join him.

In my school life, I often used to sell flowers, plants and other things in the streets. Pursuing my education was painful, both for me and my family, but somehow I made it. In college, I used to give coaching to other students and also sold self made rechargeable lights, fans and other electrical goods to villagers. I did electrical wiring work at homes, repaired mobile phones and many other things to bear my educational expenses. Despite all the odds, I completed my graduation in Chemistry from the National University of Bangladesh.

Six years ago, when I was a graduate student, I bought a second-hand mobile phone with a 5 MP camera. I really liked it. I used to take photos of my surroundings with it and one day, I shared some photos in a photography group on facebook. Some people appreciated it and told me to capture and share more photos. I was really encouraged and I started to take more and more photos.

Over time, I learned some rules and tricks. I wanted to enhance the photo quality of my phone’s camera. So I made some external lenses for my phone; macro and wide. It pushed the photo quality to an extent that others asked me to make lenses for them. It was cheap and I sold many lenses to people. In the meantime, I had won several mobile photography competitions and with that money I bought my first camera Nikon D5200. I was so excited that I started photography with full potential.

When I was about to finish my graduation, I realised the reality of the world I was living in. It’s not easy to get a job in my country. So, I decided to stay with photography and take it as a profession.

I love to take photographs of common people, their work and surroundings in wide top view. Back then, I didn’t have an ultra wide lens or a drone. So I found an alternate way; if I could get myself to a higher place then I could capture top shots easily. I had climbed trees, used ladders and roof tops, bridges, towers and whatever higher things I could find. Many times, I had to risk my life to get satisfying shots. Nowadays it has become a whole lot easier with drones.

Of all the photos I have taken, “The Ride” is my personal favourite. I took that photo taking a huge risk. I was on a highway, capturing photos of a dead tree. Suddenly, I found a huge straw laden truck with some men sitting on the top. It looked very interesting to me and I went to the middle of the road quickly.

The truck was coming towards me very fast and I had only a single chance to take only one click. I clicked the photo. Later, I got several awards for it and it got published in many international newspapers like The Times, The Telegraph, The Mirror. The photo worked like a booster in my career.

In these years of my photography life I had many ups and downs. Lost camera equipment, drone twice in accident. I have learned through my mistakes and got stronger over time. Till now my photos have been published in over 300 international newspapers and magazines and won over 100 national and international awards in photography.

To me, photographs are time capsules but if you can’t make it feel like running in real time then it’s simply an inert thing.

Every time I capture a photo, I try to make it look alive. If a photo contains something sad then it should also affect and make a viewer feel sad and if a photo contains a joyful moment then the joy of the viewer should be everlasting, even if you see that photo a thousand times, it shouldn’t end.

Photography changed my life totally. I would have been a typical office going guy, but photography made me see more, to see deeply into the lives of people. It also made me love nature. The best part of being a photographer is having the ability, the power to show others how exactly you see the world around.