Lensman Rashid Talukder fights for life

The award-winning photographer is on life support at Square Hospital following a brain stroke on Wednesday afternoon

Dhaka, Oct 21 (bdnews24.com) – Renowned photographer Rashid Talukder, the first Bangladeshi to win prestigious Pioneer Photographer Award, is struggling for life at a hospital in the city.

He has been kept on life support at Square Hospital following a brain stroke on Wednesday afternoon, his daughter Sonia Rashid told bdnews24.com on Friday night.

She said his father had undergone an operation at the same hospital on Sept 11 after brain haemorrhage.

"Following the operation, he started behaving unusually. He could not often recognise the family members and abused them."

Sonia said his father was admitted to Ibn Sina Hospital on Oct 14 and later shifted to Square Hospital as his condition deteriorated.

Talukder won the 2010 Pioneer Photographer Award in the All Roads Photography Programme.

The All Roads Film Project is a National Geographic programme dedicated to providing a platform for indigenous and under-represented minority-culture storytellers from around the world to showcase their works to promote knowledge, dialogue, and understanding with a broader global audience.

Talukder was born on October 24, 1939, in Chabbish Pargana, West Bengal, India. He developed interest in photography while he was in school. He began working in the darkroom in 1945 when he was a student of class 8.

Talukder joined the Daily Sangbad as a photojournalist in 1962, and has been a press photographer since then, for 46 years. He worked with the Daily Ittefaq for 29 years.

His photographs of the 1971 liberation war are considered invaluable documents. For several decades, he recorded various aspects of Bangladeshi life.

Talukder received several awards and honours at home and abroad. He got a lifetime achievement award at Chobi Mela, an international festival of photography in Dhaka, for his contribution to the field.

His photograph of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's historic speech on March 7, 1971 was nominated for the Encyclopaedia on Southeast Asia, published by Cambridge University, England.

Talukder has been a member of advisory councils of several photographic organisations, including Bangladesh Photographic Society. He is also the founder of the Bangladesh Photo Journalists' Association.

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