Bangladeshi photographer wins Tk 2.5 crore with mere a photo
Bangladeshi photographer Pinu Rahman wins the HIPA Grand Prize. Photo: Collected
A single photograph has told the story of a family that lost everything in a fire. Five members of a family are sleeping together beside a concrete wall amid the rubble. This photo, taken after a devastating fire in Dhaka's Korail slum, brought international recognition to Bangladeshi photographer Pinu Rahman. He received the highest honor at the 15th Hamdan International Photography Award (HIPA) in Dubai for the photo. As the prize, he received 200,000 US dollars, approximately Tk 2.5 crore in Bangladeshi currency. This is the first time a Bangladeshi photographer has won the highest award of the competition.
The photo, titled "Under the Same Sky," shows five members of a family who lost their homes in a fire in the Korail slum sleeping amid the rubble. More than 1,500 homes in the slum were burned in that fire. Despite losing everything, the scene of the family members staying together gave the photo a different dimension.
Bangladeshi photographer Pinu Rahman’s image ‘Under the Same Sky’ wins the grand prize.
On Tuesday (November 10) evening, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum handed the award to Pinu Rahman at a ceremony held at the Museum of the Future in Dubai.
Pinu Rahman works as a banker and is currently serving as Assistant General Manager in the Cyber Security Division of Rupali Bank. He grew up in Pirojpur. He completed his master's degree in botany from Dhaka University.
Although photography is not his profession, Pinu Rahman has already gained recognition on the international stage. This year he won Bangladesh's national award at the Sony World Photography Awards 2026. In addition, he won first prize at Italy's Siena Creative Photo Awards 2026 for a photo titled "The Golden Burden." That photo shows an elderly jute worker carrying a bundle of jute on his head.
The main theme of this year's 15th edition of the Hamdan International Photography Award was "Family." At the award ceremony held at the Museum of the Future in Dubai, a total of 1 million US dollars in prizes was handed out to photographers from various countries in different categories.
According to the organizing body, photographers from five continents of the world participated in five categories in this year's competition. These included family, general photography, portfolio, sports photography, and AI-based creative photography categories.
