Naseer Ahmed

Naseer Ahmed

Based
Quetta, Pakistan
Born
Quetta, Pakistan
Status
Photographer
“I’ve learnt that devotion, zeal and hard work are the basis of world-class photography.”

Beat

I am a self-taught photographer and mainly cover violence and portraits of street life.

One Shot

. QUETTA, Pakistan. REUTERS/Naseer Ahmed
Mohammad Azam, 56, sits injured in front of a dead child, at the site of a double suicide bombing in Quetta.
“This moment will haunt me forever. It happened after a colleague called me from the scene of a suicide blast. As I was covering the attack, I heard a voice saying: "Take me to hospital" and I saw an elderly man, his face covered with blood, near the body of a one-and-half-year-old girl. I shot some frames before rescue workers moved him to an ambulance.”

Profile

I started my professional career as a photojournalist with a local newspaper in Quetta City.

My first assignment was about our local jewellers, looking at how they mould gold to shape it into beautiful jewellery.

The assignment that left the biggest mark on me is also the one where I took my strongest picture for Reuters. I was deep asleep when I got a call from a colleague shouting: "There’s a suicide blast! Just come quickly!" As I got close to the civil hospital in town, I heard another explosion. Its strength shattered nearby windows and caused panic and I felt people must have died.

Covering that assignment, I first came across a woman, along with her two children, all injured. The woman, who was wearing a burqa, shook her hands to show I should stop taking photos, so I stepped back and stopped shooting. Then I came across the elderly man in the photo above. Later I went back to the hospital and found the man with the bloody face, Mr. Mohammad Azam, 56, in a better condition. But I found out later that the veiled woman had died.

I always try to keep my mind on my audiences abroad.

I’ve learnt that devotion, zeal and hard work are the basis of world-class photography.

I respect humanity.