"One of the best photojournalists that Pakistan has produced"
Dawood Subhani, the ‘Time’ photographer, and one of the best photojournalists that Pakistan has produced. While I photographed he filmed Punjab and Sindh from Sialkot to Thatta, travelling in a range rover provided by UNICEF and driven by Sindhi landlord Sanjrani because of his driving skill and knowledge of geography.
Dawood was a tall man with long legs, who had a habit of suddenly veering off in any direction, and expecting his companions to search for him and join him in whatever he had decided to do. I had not kept pace with him, as Dawood liked to be where the action was, with a bullet still lodged in his thigh since the student movement of the 1950s. It is a pity that he did not take care of his diabetes, and died young due to an untended toe injury, which proved fatal. One does not know what happened to his wonderful collection of negatives and slides, because apart from his professional assignment he was generous about taking photographs of people he knew. For example he took photographs of my wedding, to which he was not even invited because we had just arrived from UK and we did not have his address. But he always kept his ear to the ground. He had a wonderful way of becoming friendly with everyone, and sensing interesting events in their lives. I would like someone to locate his work and save it, as it is a record of a very interesting period of Pakistan’s history. I wish he were still alive and photographing. I miss him.
