Mansoor Ahmed — a lensman behind self-explanatory pictures

LAHORE:Our beloved photographer Mansoor Ahmed was laid to rest in peace on Wednesday morning. The news of his sudden death was truly a shock for almost all his colleagues, family and friends.

On Tuesday, Mansoor’s elder brother Manzoor died and sent his younger brother in a state of grief who even didn’t muster up courage to go to the graveyard for burial. “Since then he was feeling pressure on his chest and when I returned back from graveyard, he called me and with wet eyes asked me had we buried his brother,” said Tehseen, Mansoor’s son.

He has two daughters and a son. Tehseen was a graduate in computer science while a daughter is electrical engineer and the other one is in final year of medical. Mansoor Ahmed was attached with Jang group since late 80s and before becoming a photographer, he was incharge colour lab of the group’s newspapers. In mid 90s, Mansoor changed his career and became a photographer and started working in Daily Inqlab and some 10 years back he got himself transferred to daily The News as a photographer.

“He was a loving father and always taught us the right path,” Tehseen said adding the only repeated lesson his father gave to his children was always work hard and avoid earning money from illegal means.

Mansoor Ahmed though was reticent by nature, but as a friend he was jolly and always enjoyed the company of his friends. He was helpful and stood by his friends, colleagues and family when needed. He was also best known for his expressive style photography that made him one of the most expressive photographers in his league. According to his colleague, Tariq Saeed, how he achieved the truth in his pictures explains his success. Most of his pictures were self-explanatory and didn’t need a caption and several famous images were on his credit.

Mansoor also covered international sports events but news photo was his specialty, said Iftikhar Butt, another colleague of Mansoor. He said he knew him when he was incharge colour lab. “I witnessed his transformation from a nonprofessional photographer into a mature and full-fledged news photographer,” he said adding his career was an example of hard work, honesty and dedication.

His colleagues and friends said that his pictures looked like film stills, with action and time stopped. He also participated in various photo exhibitions and in private life he also used to cover marriage ceremonies and other functions in his family, which polished his skills further. He was also the general secretary of photographer association.