Abir Abdullah’s gallery is the result of a phone call from one of the students he teaches who told him that there was a fire in a building in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
The 35-year-old Bangladesh representative of the European Pressphoto Agency rushed to the address and started shooting.
“Fire fighters had already started rescue and were trying to extinguish the blaze with their limited resources and equipment and with the help of the civilian volunteers.
“I was a bit confused in the beginning and was actually running around the building”, says Abir. “I was trying to understand the best location and also watching the direction of the light. At the front of the building the situation was dramatic and mysterious, with all the smoke and light.”
“I was there for two and a half hours and my concern was to take photographs which showed the rescue operation but also the efforts of the civilian volunteers. I tried to include many layers to show the contrast of life and death.”
“I took the photographs in color but later converted to black and white which made them more atmospheric.”
A former participant in a World Press Photo seminar in Bangladesh, Abir is a multi-award winner including a Mother Jones grant in 2001, second prize in the Unicef Photographer of the year in 2005, first prizes in a World Health Organization (WHO) photo contest in Switzerland in 2002, the South Asian Journalists Association (SAJA) Photo Award 2005 and Asian Press Photo contest (Portrait) in 2006.
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