STREET PHOTOGRAPHY

I once took part in a group exhibition which was about street photography, and the show was titled 'Street Circus'. Since then I have been looking at street photography exactly that way. It is always a stage, with abundance of so many characters.

Street photography is almost always impossible without being a people’s person. It takes time, patience and trust to shoot in this genre.

One experience relevant to this will always stay with me. A few years ago, while I was doing photography for my first book 'Dharkan: the Heartbeat of a Nation', in Karachi I noticed a rod sticking out of the grimy water of a manhole. When I went closer I saw that a man was completely immersed inside the dark hole cleaning the gutter. It was such a haunting sight. When he came out of the manhole to take a cigarette break, I sat down with him and we chatted. I learnt that his name was Akram Masih and he was one of the many sanitation workers in the city. For a meager salary of 5000 rupees (around $30) a month, Akram was doing one of the most dangerous and thankless jobs in the world. The life expectancy of sanitation workers is only 45. This story left a deep impression on my mind and this photograph led me to make my first documentary film, 'Hellhole', with Akram’s uncle, Pervez Masih.

Islamabad

Kurram Agency

Lahore

Orakzai, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Parachinar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Swat 2

Chur Chowk bridge crossing, Rawalpindi

Independence Alley, Rawalpindi

Street Photography- Railway tracks, Rawalpindi

Turquoise Crossing, Sher Garh

Food street, Lahore

Finding solace, Kashmiri gate, Lahore

Old Lahore

Milad lights, Rawalpindi

Barbershop, Lahore

Rawalpindi

Sachal sarmast shrine

Lahore

Rawalpindi

ALL PHOTOS