Raghu Rai (born 1942) is an Indian

photographer A photographer (the Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who uses a camera to make photographs. Duties and types of photograp ...

and

photojournalist Photojournalism is journalism that uses images to tell a news story. It usually only refers to still images, but can also refer to video used in broadcast journalism. Photojournalism is distinguished from other close branches of photography (suc ...

. He was a protégé of

Henri Cartier-Bresson Henri Cartier-Bresson (; 22 August 1908 – 3 August 2004) was a French artist and Humanist photography, humanist photographer considered a master of candid photography, and an early user of 135 film, 35mm film. He pioneered the genre of street ...

, who nominated Rai, then a young photojournalist, to join

Magnum Photos Magnum Photos is an international photographic cooperative owned by its photographer-members, with offices in Paris, New York City, London and Tokyo. It was founded in 1947 in Paris by photographers Robert Capa, David Seymour (photographer), Davi ...

in 1977. Rai became a photographer in the mid 1960s, soon joining the staff of '' The Statesman'' in New Delhi. In 1976, he left the paper and became a freelance photographer. From 1982 until 1992, Rai was the director of photography for ''

India Today ''India Today'' is a weekly Indian English-language news magazine published by Living Media, Living Media India Limited. It is the most widely circulated magazine in India, with a readership of close to 8 million. In 2014, ''India Today'' laun ...

''. He served on the jury for

World Press Photo World Press Photo Foundation is an independent, non-profit organization based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Founded in 1955, the organization holds the annual World Press Photo Contest for press photography. Since 2011, World Press Photo has orga ...

from 1990 to 1997. He is known for his books, particularly ''Raghu Rai's India: Reflections in Colour'' and ''Reflections in Black and White''.

Early life

Rai was born in the village of

Jhang Jhang ( Punjabi / ; ; ) is the capital city of Jhang District in central Punjab, Pakistan. Situated on the east bank of the Chenab river, it is the 13th most populous city of Pakistan. Etymology The historical name of the city and dis ...

Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

(now in

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

), the youngest of four children.

Career

Rai started learning photography in 1962 under his elder brother Sharampal Chowdhry (better known as S Paul), who is a photographer. In 1965 he joined "The Statesman" newspaper as its chief photographer. He and his colleague

Saeed Naqvi Saeed Naqvi is senior Indian journalist, television commentator, interviewer. He has interviewed world leaders and personalities in India and abroad, which appear in newspapers, magazines and on national television, remained editor of the ''Wor ...

visited Maharishi's ashram in the spring of 1968, when

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

arrived. Rai left "The Statesman" in 1976 to work as picture editor for "Sunday," a weekly news magazine published in Calcutta. Impressed by an exhibit of his work in Paris in 1971,

nominated Rai to join

in 1977. Rai left "Sunday" in 1980, and worked as a picture editor and photographer at "

" during its formative years. From 1982 to 1991, he worked on special issues and designs, contributing picture essays on social, political, and cultural themes. For

Greenpeace Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by a group of Environmental movement, environmental activists. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth to nurture life in all its biod ...

, he completed an in-depth documentary project on the chemical disaster at Bhopal in 1984, which he covered as a journalist with ''India Today'' in 1984, and on its ongoing effects on the lives of gas victims. This work resulted in a book, ''Exposure: A Corporate Crime'' and three exhibitions that toured Europe, America, India and southeast Asia after 2004, the 20th anniversary of the disaster. Rai wanted the exhibition to support the many survivors through creating greater awareness, both about the tragedy, and about the victims who continue to live in the contaminated environment around Bhopal. In 2003, while on an assignment for Geo Magazine in Bombay City, he switched to using a digital camera "and from that moment to today, I haven't been able to go back to using film." In 2017, Avani Rai, his daughter followed her father on one of his trips to Kashmir to get an insight into his life and know him better. She released a documentary on this journey called ''Raghu Rai: An Unframed Portrait,'' executive produced by

Anurag Kashyap Anurag Kashyap (born 10 September 1972) is an Indian filmmaker and actor known for his works in Hindi cinema. He is the recipient of four Filmfare Awards. For his contributions to films, the Government of France made him a Knight of the Ordre ...

. Rai has produced more than 18 books focussing on the culture and people of India, including Raghu Rai's Delhi, The Sikhs, Calcutta, Khajuraho, Taj Mahal, Tibet in Exile, India, and Mother Teresa. His photo essays have appeared in many magazines and newspapers including ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'', ''

Life Life, also known as biota, refers to matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes. It is defined descriptively by the capacity for homeostasis, Structure#Biological, organisation, met ...

'', '' GEO'', ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', ''

Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...

'', ''

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly news magazine based in New York City. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely distributed during the 20th century and has had many notable editors-in-chief. It is currently co-owned by Dev P ...

'', ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', and the '' New Yorker''. He has served three times on the jury of the World Press Photo, and twice on the jury of UNESCO's International Photo Contest.

Awards

* Padmashree in 1972 for work on Bangladesh War * Photographer of the Year from USA (1992) *Academie des Beaux Arts Photography Award - William Klein 2019 *Lifetime Achievement Award by the information and broadcasting (I&B) ministry 2017

Exhibitions

*1997 Retrospective – National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi, India. *2002 Raghu Rai's India – a Retrospective, Photofusion, London *2002 Volkart Foundation, Winterthur, Switzerland *2003 Bhopal – Sala Consiliare, Venice, Italy; Photographic Gallery, Helsinki, Finland *2003 Exposure: Portrait of a Corporate Crime – University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA *2004 Exposure – Drik Gallery, Dhaka, Bangladesh; Leica Gallery, Prague, Czech Republic *2005 Bhopal 1984–2004 – Melkweg Gallery, Amsterdam, Netherlands *2005 India – Musei Capitolini Centrale Montemartini, Rome, Italy *2007

Rencontres d'Arles The Rencontres d'Arles (formerly called ''Rencontres internationales de la photographie d'Arles'') is an annual summer photography festival founded in 1970 by the Arles photographer Lucien Clergue, the writer Michel Tournier and the historian ...

festival, France *2012 My India – FotoFreo, Australia * 2013 Trees (Black and white), New Delhi *2014 In Light of India: Photography by Raghu Rai, Hong Kong International Photo Festival, Hong Kong *2015 Trees, Art Alive Art Gallery, Delhi *''2016, The Greatest Photographs of Raghu Rai,'' Ojas Art, New Delhi

Books

*1974 ''A Day in the life of Indira Gandhi'', Nachiketa Publications, India *1983 ''Delhi: A Portrait'', Delhi Tourist Development Corporation/Oxford University Press, India/UK *1984 ''The

Sikhs Sikhs (singular Sikh: or ; , ) are an ethnoreligious group who adhere to Sikhism, a religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Guru Nanak. The term ''Sikh'' ...

'', Lustre Press, India *1985 ''Indira Gandhi'' (with Pupul Jayakar), Lustre Press, India *1986/87 ''Taj Mahal'', Times Editions, Singapore; Robert Laffont, France; Rizzoli Publications, USA *1988 ''Dreams of India'', Time Books International, Singapore; (L'Inde), Arthaud, France *1989 ''

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

'', Time Books International, India *1990 ''

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

and

Agra Agra ( ) is a city on the banks of the Yamuna river in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, about south-east of the national capital Delhi and 330 km west of the state capital Lucknow. With a population of roughly 1.6 million, Agra is the ...

'' (with Lai Kwok Kin and Nitin Rai), Hunter Publications, Inc., USA *1990/91 ''Tibet in Esilio'', Mondadori, Italy; (Tibet in Exile), Chronicle Books, USA *1991 ''

Khajuraho Khajuraho () is a city, near Chhatarpur in Chhatarpur district of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. One of the most popular tourist destinations in India, Khajuraho has the country's largest group of medieval Hindu and Jain temples, famous ...

'', Time Books International, India *1994 ''Raghu Rai's Delhi'', Indus/Harper Collins, India *1996/01 ''Dreams of India'', Times Editions, Singapore/Greenwich, UK *1996 ''Faith and Compassion: The Life and Work or Mother Teresa'', Element Books, USA. *1997 ''My Land and Its People'', Vadehra Gallery, India *1998 ''Man, Metal and Steel'', Steel Authority of India, Ltd., India *2000 ''Raghu Rai... in his Own Words'', Roli Books, India *2000 ''

Lakshadweep Lakshadweep () is a union territory of India. It is an archipelago of 36 islands divided into three island subgroups: the Amindivi Islands in the north, the Laccadive Islands (separated from Amindivi roughly by the 11th parallel north), and th ...

'', UT of Lakshadweep, India *2001 ''Raghu Rai's India – A Retrospective'', Asahi Shimbun, Japan *2002 '' Bhopal Gas Tragedy (with Suroopa Mukherjee)'', Tulika Publishers, India *2003/04 ''Saint Mother: A Life Dedicated'', Timeless Books, India;Mère Teresa), La Martinière, France *2004 ''Exposure: Portrait Of A Corporate Crime'', Greenpeace, Netherlands *2004 ''

Indira Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and stateswoman who served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India from 1966 to 1977 and again from 1980 un ...

: A Living Legacy'', Timeless Books, India *2005 ''Romance of India'', Timeless Books, India *2005 ''

Mother Teresa Mary Teresa Bojaxhiu (born Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu, ; 26 August 1910 – 5 September 1997), better known as Mother Teresa or Saint Mother Teresa, was an Albanian-Indian Catholic Church, Roman Catholic nun, founder of the Missionaries of ...

: A Life of Dedication'', Harry N. Abrams, USA. *2008 ''Raghu Rai's India: Reflections in Colour'', Haus Books. *2010 ''India's Great Masters: A Photographic Journey into the Heart of Classical Music'' * 2011 ''The Indians: Portraits From My Album'', Penguin Books. . * 2013 ''Bangladesh: The Price of Freedom'', Niyogi Books. * 2013 ''Trees'', PHOTOINK, India *2014 ''The Tale of Two: An Outgoing and an Incoming Prime Minister'' *2014 ''

Vijayanagara Vijayanagara () is a city located in Vijayanagara district of Karnataka state in India.Vijayanagara

Empire: Ruins to Resurrection'', Niyogi Books.

References
*

External links

Raghu Rai
at
Magnum Photos Magnum Photos is an international photographic cooperative owned by its photographer-members, with offices in Paris, New York City, London and Tokyo. It was founded in 1947 in Paris by photographers Robert Capa, David Seymour (photographer), Davi ...

Rai's feature about Mumbai on MagnumInvisible Interview: Raghu Rai, India
Accompanying photo essay
The Magical Streets of Raghu's India
at Invisible Photographer Asia
Raghu Rai: Interview
at ''The Guardian'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Rai, Raghu Indian photojournalists 1942 births Living people Magnum photographers Street photographers 20th-century Indian photographers Recipients of the Padma Shri in arts Indian portrait photographers Indian male journalists People from Jhang District 20th-century Indian journalists 21st-century Indian photographers Pakistani photojournalists