Danish Siddiqui

Danish Siddiqui

Based
New Delhi, India
Status
Photographer
“While I enjoy covering news stories – from business to politics to sports – what I enjoy most is capturing the human face of a breaking story.”

Beat

Apart from daily features and “bread and butter” assignments, I love shooting in-depth features around the country – and also cricket, the most popular religion in India!

One Shot

. MUMBAI, India. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui
Cinema goers watch the Bollywood movie "Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge" (The Big Hearted Will Take the Bride) at the Maratha Mandir theatre in Mumbai. The movie has set a record by completing 770 weeks of continuous screening at the cinema.
“I photographed people watching a romantic Bollywood film while I was doing a feature on a Mumbai theatre, which has been showing the same film for the last 15 years. The way a film can help people forget their worldly worries, everyday hassles, and cares makes this picture special for me.”

Profile

My earliest memories of photography are a camera borrowed from a neighbour, black and white rolls of film bought with half my pocket money, and a school hiking trip in the Himalayas.

My first encounter with formal training in photography was at film school, where one module was dedicated to still photography. I was also exposed to photojournalism while working as a television journalist with one of the largest news television networks in India. Ninety percent of the photography I have learnt has come from experimentation in the field.

My first assignment for Reuters was, as an intern, to accompany the chief photographer for India to a religious festival that is held every 12 years in a different city around the country. Hundreds of thousands of Hindus take part in this religious carnival of sorts. It was a great experience for me, and I learnt new shooting, editing and filming techniques.

The assignment that has left the biggest mark on me so far is the story of Rubina, the child star of the film “Slumdog Millionaire”, after her shanty in a slum colony was gutted by fire. I was amazed at the little girl’s courage and grit. She'd lost everything in one night, including the precious photographs from the Academy Awards evening in Los Angeles, where she’d walked the red carpet with her co-actors.

While I enjoy covering news stories – from business to politics to sports – what I enjoy most is capturing the human face of a breaking story. I really like covering issues that affect people as the result of different kind of conflicts.

I shoot for the common man who wants to see and feel a story from a place where he can’t be present himself.

My biggest lesson so far has been to adapt myself as quickly as possible when the story changes in the middle of an assignment.

I respect my subjects the most – they give me my inspiration.

Behind the Scenes

. India. REUTERS/Stringer
Reuters photographer Danish Siddiqui takes pictures from a fishing boat of the damaged cargo ship MSC Chitra in the Arabian Sea off the Mumbai coast.
. Mumbai, India. REUTERS/Vivek Prakash
Reuters photographer Danish Siddiqui takes pictures as fireworks explode during a procession to mark Eid-e-Milad-ul-Nabi, birthday celebrations for the Prophet Mohammad, in Mumbai.