Tales in frames

Perhaps the reason Fojit Sheikh Babu uses his camera as a means to capture and convey the emotional tales of joy and sufferings, is because he himself had to endure harassment in a manner that is no less than inhumane. When he was in class four studying in a village school, he could not afford to buy books and had to use one which had tattered with age. When an important personality was set to visit his school, all the children with fresh books were seated in the front. As for Babu, despite being a good student, he was sent to the last bench as the pages of his book were not as crisp to match the image of a studious child, or so it was claimed. Like the pages of his book, his education too faded with time.

After having a fair share of struggles in life, Babu managed to buy a camera in 1993 and venture into photography. By 2007, he opened up a studio along with his brother, which proved rather successful. Within two years, he decided to hand over the business to his brother and took up photojournalism. “In the studio, the subject is limited within portraits. However, as a photojournalist, I have the opportunity to cover a wide range of aspects. I am unaware of 'photo grammar' as I do not have any formal education. But my experience over the years allows me to frame moments that speak for themselves,” explains Babu.

He has earned a name in the international photo exhibition arena with his thought-provoking photos. One of his series covers the day when the government of Bangladesh hands out free books to children nationwide. He told The Daily Star that having missed out on education, he somewhat finds comfort in sharing the joyous moments with the little ones. His work on the Rohingya refugees has garnered a lot of appreciation far beyond our borders and he is yet to exhibit much of his work based on the requests made from Korea, Brazil, Canada and many other countries.