Albeit having studied civil engineering, Raghu Rai delved into the world of photography in 1965, at the age of 23. Right after, he joined The Statesman in New Delhi as their chief photographer from 1966-1976, and was then the picture editor of Sunday – a Calcutta-based weekly. Ever since 1972, he has been a part of Magnum Photos – the world’s most prestigious photography cooperative – after being nominated by legend Henri Cartier Bresson. He went on to work at India Today, where he contributed trailblazing picture essays from 1982-1991, including profiles on Satyajit Ray, Mother Theresa, and great classical musicians. His photo essays have appeared in many of the world’s leading magazines and newspapers – including Time, Life, GEO, Le Figaro, Le Monde, Die Welt, The New York Times, The Sunday Times-London, Newsweek, Vogue, GQ, D magazine, Marie Claire, The Independent and the New Yorker – amongst others. His awards and accolades are similarly extensive; Rai was awarded the Padma Shri in 1972, “Photographer of the Year” by the USA in 1992, the Officer des Arts et des Letters by the French Government in 2009, and is the only photographer in the world to get ‘ Academie Des Beaux Art’ Paris Awards in 2019. He has been an adjudicator for World Press Photo Contest, Amsterdam and UNESCO’s International Photo Contest for many years, and is also renowned for extensively documenting the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy. In 2012, Rai founded the Raghu Rai Center for Photography to share his 50 years of knowledge and experience with the young generations. He currently lives in New Delhi with his family, and is working on his 60th publication.