The New Nation - Internet Edition

Farizaa Sabreen

First solo exhibition of Mohammad Wayes was ended on February 23. A seven-day-long exhibition was inaugurated by Kamal Uddin Shabuj, General Secretary, National Press Club in the city's Drik Gallery. During the opening ceremony the chief guest appreciated the photographer for his wonderful work and added that his work on Japan will further enhance the friendly relations and bilateral ties between Bangladesh and Japan.

Almost all national parks of Japan were his subjects of photography. However, due to budget constraints present exhibition only includes photographs of Oze National P9!k (Japan).

A total of 47 selected photographs of the same park shot in his early career are included for the exhibition.

In future he will exhibit photographs of at least 10 to 12 National Parks of Japan. He hopes his present stock of slides of those parks would be superior both in terms of quality and quantity. If he gets the proper support he can bring much larger size photographs in future exhibitions.

Mohammad Waves was born in 1969 and spent his childhood close to nature in a mountainous area.

His affection for nature was deep-rooted in days of his childhood and the affection got even, deeper in Japan.

This passion for nature forced him to take the journey into the world of nature photography. At the beginning, this was a lonely walk without any proper academic background. So he was his own mentor into this challenging and ever changing world of photography.

Since 1988 he spent almost six years alone trying to experiment and learn a very expensive subject (for him) like photography. In 1994 he enrolled for the diploma course under New York Institute of Photography.

This helped him correct his basic techniques of photography. Later in his life he worked with some of the renowned photographers like Mr Takahasi Youshiyouki and Mr Fujiwara Yohei. Mr. Takahasi encouraged Wayes while joining him in his personal assignment.

He is one photographer who does not entangle himself with any kind of fame and at this early stage of learning.

As a result, it took 20 years for his first exhibition to materialize. His dream is to mark his footprint in each and every corner of his home country to photograph and show the real beauty of Bangladesh to outside world.