Photography

For some inexplicable reason there is a strong link between photography and Bangladesh. Compared to other places it is not that photogenic - or put another way it lacks icons such as the Grand Canyon or Great Barrier Reef. In other ways Bangladesh is an incredibly rich tapestry that photographers love to write upon. I have photographs (copies and in books) from nineteenth and early twentieth century that are rich in details and culture. Contemporary Bangladeshi photography owes a lot to Shahidul Alam who set up Drik and Pathshala, the South Asian Media Academy and Institute of Photography . These two institutions epitomise photography and have made Bangladesh, to many people's surprise, a centre for photography in the South. Related to these two is Chobi Mela a biennial festival of photography that attracts all of the great names in contemporary photography.

My interest in photography in this regard is not abstract. My friend and colleague Norm Leslie takes students to Dhaka every year to work at Drik where they learn a great deal about photography and life and Bangladesh and at one time I tried, with Shahidul's encouragement, to bring about a merger between ULAB and Pathshala to create a major degree awarding body for photography in Bangladesh - and one day I may write that story. Suffice to say I regret that it didn't eventuate. But what prompted this meditation on photography was an email from another friend in Dhaka bringing to my attention the recent photographs of Geoffrey Hiller , which are very evocative of the Bangladesh I know and well worth looking at.

And as a disclosure I must add that I proudly own a Shadidul Alam photograph - of a boat on the banks of the Brahmaputra, which my grandkids love.