PLAYING A DOUBLE ROLE
Carrying an MBBS in one hand, and a camera in the other, Ata Mohammad Adnan showed the world that even busy doctors have pursuable passions. With recognition from home and abroad alike, Ata is now a well known name in the world of photography.
He has won a few local inter-university awards, for photography, when he was still a student, which inspired him to keep going. His photos have found their way to the United Kingdom, the United States, China, UAE, Croatia, India, Greece, Germany, and have appeared in prestigious platforms like CNN, BBC and the Daily Mail. He was also a finalist in the last four editions of the prestigious Sony World Photo Awards, UK, and won first prize in their national pool this year.
"I did my complete schooling from nursery to A'Levels at Sunshine Grammar school in my hometown Chittagong. Later, I went to the much reputed Sun Yat Sen University in the city of Guangzhou in China to pursue my MBBS," says Ata.
His journey to become a photographer started during the second year of my university, during the later months of 2009. "I remember that I started liking taking photos of strangers on the streets of China. Maybe it was the urge to tell stories of a foreign country, and photos were just a medium to go with my words," he says.
Even after studying medicine, a subject a lot of students are almost afraid of because of its rigour, Ata never let go of his hold on the camera. "I strongly believe that one can make time for something they are passionate about. I try to carry a camera everywhere I can and in that case I don't need to always take time separately to take photos."
Ata's family has always supported his decisions, whether it was about studying medicine or about doing photography. "I have also found a great friend and honest critic in the form of my wife which is an added bonus!"
Ata finds inspiration in the people he meets and photographs. "They are often strangers when I meet them on the streets and I am genuinely thankful to them for lending me a small portion of their soul through my photograph." He also finds inspiration in the works of Nayeem Kalam, a local photographer from Bangladesh who has been documenting lives for decades without any incentive.
To the youth he says, "There's no shortcut for success. I have studied five years to become a doctor, and I think becoming a decent photographer takes equal amount of dedication and sincerity. In this era of social media, it is quite easy for young photographers like us to get a false impression of our success."
According to Ata, if there was a worldwide ranking, Bangladesh would easily be in the top ten. "Having said that, I do hope the situation for professional photographers was a little better. People who are doing this for a living are still
struggling just because of the lack of scope or infrastructure."
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