Reyad’s laudable pursuits through the camera

Being inspired by magazine photographs, Reyad Abedin was elated to get a phone with a camera when he was just a young kid in college. He majored in Fashion Design, and only did a compulsory course on basic photography. Slowly, his photography hobby evolved into a profession and now, he has a postgraduate diploma from Counter Foto – A Center for Visual Arts.

Abedin's photography project, "The Name of My City is Dust, Smoke and Life", chronicles the symbiotic relationship between humans and nature in his native city, Dhaka. This is his proudest achievement thus far in his career. It was displayed at the Sony World Photography Awards 2020 exhibition at Somerset House in London as well as at the Felix-Schoeller Exhibition in Museumsquartier in Osnabrück, Germany.

He was among the winners of Sharjah Art Foundation's Exhibition Vantage Point. Among the several categories, Abedin's "In Search of Lost Tune" took the crown for photojournalism and documentary. It is now exhibited in London and Dubai. Besides this, a visual diary he created during the pandemic is now on exhibit in New York's ICP Museum. He also received the Photographer of the Year Award by Photoffee Academy of Fine-art Photography this year. He has been a finalist at different competitions, including Felix-Schoeller Photo Award 2021 and Sony Student Photographer 2020.

He is a recipient of the Sony Student Grant 2020-2021, and a finalist of the Ian Parry Scholarship 2020.

"When I have an idea, I start developing it by writing, roughly drawing pictures, imagining the composition and building emotional connection with the subject. I go to the location to take some primary photos in order to visualise the project," he shares. "It usually takes me six months to a year to complete a project because it is not possible to capture all six seasons in a short span of time."

Abedin's photographs locate creativity at the intersection of humans and the environment.  He considers his photograph a vehicle to express people's stripped down emotions, past memories, and inner thoughts.

One of his biggest goals is to publish his body of work in a book. His advice to aspiring photographers is to keep practicing and reading novels as they expand one's imagination. Moreover, he advises against chasing instant success or measuring success based on social media and aesthetic consumerism.

The author is a student of BRAC University, and a freelance journalist. Email: shanzaychowdhury@gmail.com.