Md. Farhad Rahman (b. 1986) is a young photographer from Dhaka, Bangladesh, a country that is producing a lot of fresh photography talents. He finished his 3 years professional course in photography from Pathshala, South Asian Media Institute, Dhaka and began to work as a freelance documentary photographer. Images featured in this post belong to his ongoing project ‘Song of a Coast’ shot along the coastal areas of the Bay of Bengal. It is an attempt to document nature and living things by the sea. Farhad responded to my simple questions about himself and his photography as under:

Please tell us about yourself and how you became a photographer:

I grew up in a small city in Bangladesh and after the secondary school certificate exam I was shifted to the Dhaka, the capital, to for fulfill my dreams. From an early age I always wanted to be an architect but my destiny pushed me to the study of Leather Engineering. At the age of 18 I got an SLR camera from my big brother and at that time it helped me forgetting the lost dream of becoming an architect. After completing the engineering, I decide not to do any thing for sake of others and I started doing what I liked. I shifted my carrier from engineering to photography. After completing 3 years professional course on photography from Pathshala, South Asian Media Institute currently I am working as a freelance photographer and Lecturer at Pathshala.

I believe that in our lives we need to give priority to something and similarly I decide to give first priority to photography.  in the first priority. Photography actually helped me to make the proper documentation of my thoughts and imagination or I can say I use this medium as my way of inner expression.

Tell me something about your photography institute:

It is the school that really changed my life and it’s also at the back of producing emerging photographic talents of Bangladesh. Due to the efforts and education of the institute lots and lots of new photographic talents are coming into light. Not only the school (Pathshala) but also the senior photographic talents already widely known in the field of global photography are spending their precious time, experience and efforts for supporting the new generation of photographers.

What kind of things or themes do you like to shoot most and what is your shooting process?

As I already mentioned that I have a strong feeling for the architecture from my early age. That’s why I am always fascinated by structure, object and urban landscape. In my early stage I try to start with the landscape and now I am shifting towards portraits and sometimes combines both of them for telling my stories. Fantasy, Ambiguity and Abstraction are the major content of my visual representation style.

As a person I love to travel and explore new places and document the changing landscape and situations, meet new people and hear their personal stories. For landscapes I randomly visit and shoot, for the fictional story I staged the visual after long homework and research.

Tell us something about your experience of teaching photography. What in your opinion should be the most important aspect to master this activity?

I have been teaching almost for one year and during this short period of time I realized that every student should really need to know at least what they want or what they are actually looking for. They should be honest with their photographic work, and be dedicated to and passionate about the medium. Some time they also need to be a little bit liberal during schooling.

Which one of these is your favorite image?

It’s very difficult to say which one is my favorite. Actually every click in my life creates a different feeling and gives a different meaning in to my life so I don’t want to be biased to any specific photograph.

What do you think about contemporary photography?

Contemporary photography has almost completely shifted from the previous classic generation. Photographs have become much more experimental and comes with new pallets for presenting their work.

Tell us about your achievements, however insignificant they may seem to you:

I have just started in the field of photography and my works have recently started to get published and exhibited in many places around the world in a very short time. Currently I am teaching and working on my few projects and some time I also do some commercial assignments. For the future I am planning to teach for few years and study more in the field of photography. I want to explore new things and create something unique in my visual style.

Tell me about your favorite photographers and other things outside of photography:

When I started to explore photography, I was extremely fascinated by the works of James Nachtwey and Raghu Rai. After few years Stephen Shore, Alec Soth and William Eggleston became one of the major influences in my photography. Currently Cristina de Middel, Rafal Millach and Adam Panzuck are one of my favorites.

Say something inspiring:

“If you have any pain inside then find a medium where you can express it and don’t change yourself and fall in love with what you actually want”.

All photos © Md. Farhad Rahman : Website | Instagram