Pakistani photographer proves power of passion
AMNA PERVAIZ RAO
THE PENINSULA
DOHA: The success story of Irfan Ahson, a renowned Pakistani wedding photographer, is a convincing proof of power of passion and unlimited enthusiasm.
A civil engineer by profession with an engineering degree from the University of Texas fell in love with his hobby — photography — and years later down the lane he became the most successful wedding photographer.
Recently, Ahson got a sensational press in Pakistan when he shot the official portrait of newly-elected Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan. The curious media riding on speculative winds started questioning the exorbitant fee Ahson would have charged for the photo shoot of Premier Khan thus severely criticising the austerity
drive of PTI government.
“I did not charge for that portraits. It was my small contribution to Naya Pakistan,” Ahson tweeted to silence the critics. The Peninsula talked to Irfan Ahson during his recent visit to Doha about Imran Khan’s portrait, his passion for photography, his journey and also about the necessary elements of success in entrepreneurship.
Ahson believes in capturing ‘moments’ which he thinks ‘become a beautiful memory with the passage of time.’ “Photography was my hobby when I was working as a transportation civil engineer in the US after doing my masters degree. It was a very expensive hobby, but I managed to earn extra money to fund my hobby.”
Irfan Ahson is an award-winning photographer in Pakistan. He runs a studio in Lahore named “Fine Art Weddings by Irfan Ahson”. A colleague of Ahson was getting married and it was the moment from where he got an opportunity to start his wedding photography journey. “The fleeting nature of life encouraged me to indulge into
photography,” he says.
Sharing his experience of capturing Imran Khan’s official portrait, he said: “I was given one and a half minute in which we did two sittings. One was with the white background and two flags; and the second one was taken with picture of Quaid-e-Azam in the background. I clicked Khan’s three shoots in 25 seconds.”
On wedding photography, he continued: “Wedding photography is my way of earning money; my real passion is street photography, portraits, nature, people in their element and capturing innocence. From the experience I got from US outdoor weddings, I tried to implement it in Pakistan. My timings and idea was right hence it clicked. This
way I made my name in photography industry.”
Ahson has a team of twenty people working with him for the last three years, full-time. “I do a couple of shoots; the rest is done by my talented team. I was in the US in July for a wedding shoot and again heading to the US this month. It has been very long that I have not covered an entire event single-handed,” he added.
Learning something new every day through YouTube tutorials and books is a part of Ahson’s daily life routine. “You can never learn light while doing photography. Photography is a simple art: it is based on three elements; ISO, aperture and shutter speed. But, creativity plays its own role while doing photography.”
Ahson’s greatest achievement in field of photography was when he did Rick Perry’s (Governor of Texas) shoot in 2008. “It was a big honour for me as a Pakistani amateur photographer covering the oath ceremony and inauguration ceremony of Rick Perry because back then I did not have my ‘IRFAN AHSON’ identity.”
For people who want to lear photography, my advice would be to pick up the camera and start shooting. Look at the exit data. See what you did and what you could have done to make the shot better. Learn to shoot with primes and in manual mode. You will learn a lot faster this way as compared to shooting in ‘auto’ mode.”
