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PHOTOGRAPHER: Soham Gupta
Soham Gupta was awarded an honourable mention (photos catagory) in a youth photography and writing competition, launched by the Thomson Reuters Foundation in partnership with Transparency International (TI) to mark the 20th anniversary of TI, one of one of the world’s leading anti-corruption organisations. We asked young people between the ages of 18 and 30 to depict corruption and how to combat it. The competition was judged by Thomson Reuters Foundation, Transparency International and professional journalists and photographers.
Soham Gupta, born in 1988, is a documentary photographer based in Kolkata. He grew up amidst the leftist political and literary culture of Bengal and began taking photographs in his teens. Gupta is drawn to the photographs of Don McCullin, Anders Petersen, Christer Strömholm and Jim Goldberg; and the melancholy darkness of painters such as Georges de La tour, Gherardo della Notte and others of the 17th century. He holds a diploma in photojournalism from Ateneo de Manila University, Philippines. He has exhibited in Paris and in Kolkata, and his photographs were included in Max Ström’s book “A DAY IN THE WORLD.” In 2013, he was nominated for the Joop Swart Masterclass. When not photographing, he enjoys nostalgia, writing and talking about the modern history of India and digging into a delicious Italian buffet. Jane Goodall is his hero and if not a photographer, Gupta probably would have been a zoo-keeper.