Golden Exchanges With Rafique Sayed

Times changed.

- Shivantee Bhattacharya

“When I was a child, I was only interested in cricket. Pictures never attracted me, ads held no meaning. Photographers were a non-entity, and models were never more beautiful than my English teacher.”

Rafique Sayed came into professional photography more by chance than by choice. He chose fashion as his field of specialisation, which brought name, fame, arrogance and a narrow vision with it. Photography was turning people into beautiful babydoll images; expressionless but beautiful.

After ten to twelve years, when he realized an empty gap in his life and career, he then set out to shoot real people, nature, still life, even cars and hotels. “The more I put on my plate, the more hungry I became.” Inspired by the words of Kahlil Gibran, “How mean am I when life gives me gold and I give you silver, and yet I deem myself generous.”, Rafique wants to give gold for gold.

Q. How would you define beauty?