Junaid Bhat – From High school Dropout to the most Succesfull Conflictographer
slogans ” Hum kya chahay azaadi ( what do we want freedom ) jis kashmir ko khun sy sencha wo Kashmir hamara hai ( To kashmir we have have irrigated with blood is ours) ” 2013,It was Autumn season in kashmir and i had gone for friday prayers at a local Mosque.Many people had gathered to follow the rally from Mosque to main chowk led by Kashmiri seratist leader Syed Ali shah Geelani who was leading Prayers before
During the rally, I saw the women weeping and youth clashing with security forces. The tear gas fired by security forces choked my breath and I ran away towards a building , where I saw two masked youth covering their faces and holding something in their hands but certainly not a Gun and pointing their cameras towards the people who were protesting. At that time, I didn’t know the device they were holding in their hands is called a camera and I wondered what are these guys doing there.
While violent clashes were going on , I somehow managed to reach my home. While I was still thinking about those two guys , my cousin asked ,”why are you so confused ?”. During the protests, I saw two young men , holding something in their hands with their faces covered. I replied. Oh my dear brother, they were two photojournalists who were shooting protests and clashes by their cameras . The photographs you see daily in the newspapers are shot by those photojournalists. I was in my 12th class and I didn’t know about camera and this was the first time I heard about the word ”camera”.
who knew destiny had written that I will be spending the rest of my life by holding the earlier Alien device to me in my hand . My love for the device and aura around it started to grow up and I started to capture photos with my basic android Smartphone. I wondered, why don’t the media cover the protests and clashes from our side and why they only highlight the Srinagar city. While I continued to cover protests and unrest with my phone, I started to distance myself from my studies and which eventually resulted in failure in my 12th class board exams. I could not pass my accountancy paper . People living around me started to taunt me as I failed in my boards exam. I was discouraged, my own family members were disappointed with me. Many people told me to shun your mobile photography otherwise you won’t be able to pass your subject. I kept following my passion and I didn’t stop covering protest, rallies. One day, I was going through a daily local newspaper and I came across many photographs of protests, clashes published . I had been clicking photos from past 3 years but my photos were not published yet and then I decided to mail my photos to a local daily newspaper and on the next day I saw my photos published on the newspaper .At the first, I didn’t believe that it was my name. I thought this might be a person with the same name “JUNAID BHAT”. So, I decided to email more photos to a different newspaper, Greater Kashmir, which is considered to be Kashmir’s largest circulated local English daily newspaper. It was like a dream come true when I saw myself getting featured in Greater Kashmir . I continued to shoot and kept sending the photos to different news agencies and they kept posting my photos but none of them paid me.
I asked my father for camera and because the influence of my results was roaming his mind, He denied and rebuked me for it. I decided to take the load on my shoulders to of getting a camera. I stayed for a year long away from home .My mother used to cry and used to tell my friends that I should return my home, my passion didn’t let me to turn up .I started getting pennies for pictures shot with my phone and finally got myself a camera. I was new to this profession and had very little knowledge about the projects and earnings. During this period, I got a chance to meet a famous photojournalist, name withheld , who suggested me to go to Delhi to gain firm knowledge in photojournalism and filmmaking. It was not an easy deal as my family showed very little interest in this . Finally, I went to Delhi just a couple of months before the devastating floods hit the Kashmir in 2014. I spent 3 years in Delhi in which I completed filmmaking and attended many workshops and photo-competitions . I met a lot of professional people during this period of time which proved very successful to my career. I was encouraged by many senior photojournalists for my skills and passion towards my work during workshops.
On 8th July 2016, Hizbul Mujahideen’s militant Commander, Burhan wani, who was carrying a bounty of Rs 1 million, was killed in a brief encounter with Indian Security forces in South Kashmir’s Anantnag. His killing sparked the violent protest and clashes across the Kashmir. The violent protests swept across Kashmir which resulted in the killing of many youngsters. The shutdown called by All Parties Hurriyat Conference lasted for almost six months. Mobile and internet services were snapped across Kashmir. I had started to work with Greater Kashmir and I covered all the major protests, rallies in North Kashmir’s Sopore. I came across many injuries while shooting the violent clashes and I would often feel unconscious due to the tear gas and pepper shellings .
In 2017, National Investigation Authority (NIA) , arrested one of my close friend , Kamran Yousuf, who is also a photojournalist. He was also working with Greater Kashmir but when NIA arrested him on stone-pelting charges , the newspaper authorities said that no doubt we have used his pictures in many stories but he is not our employee. To protest this , I resigned from Greater Kashmir . I got a lot of support from people and I saw my name making headlines in various top newspapers. This bold move kicked my career into a high gear . I opened an instagram account and started to share all of my work on this. The social media is a hungry beast and it needs constant feeding . So, I kept publishing photos and people loved my content but it is never easy to be a photo-journalist in Kashmir. Sometimes, people would threaten and abuse me while covering the funerals of militants and sometimes security forces would threaten and snatch my camera along with my recordings.I have been arrested, abused many times by security forces. To shoot funerals and encounters, I have walked as many as 20 kilometers on foot and that too many times .My camera and its parts got damaged many a times while covering the protest and clashes. I have suffered various losses during the unrest and violence. I was hit by pellets many times and a bullet once as well. My family was also targeted many times. My father was threatened by both people and security forces.
The growth was visible as number of followers grew up tremendously on social media. Currently, my Instagram account has more than 38K followers. I am currently working as a freelance photojournalist. I have worked for both national and international news agencies like BBC, Aljazeera, Getty images , Newsclick, The Wire.
I regularly conduct workshops, in North Kashmir’s Sopore where I give photography tips to those students who find their future in photography and have limited resources.
In an entrance exam held in a local school, where students were asked to answer the question, “What do you want to be in your life ?”
Prior to centres abrogatation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir . I am amongst the few photojournalists who have been reporting the news and covering the protests. I was threatened not to cover the protests but despite of this I have reported fearlessly.With know news coming out people start calling calling me whenever I move outside the valley and get back to network area. I have to go out of the Kashmir just to send my work to international agencies since the blanket ban on communication. It is very difficult to report these days but I promise I will continue to report the truth fearlessly for my people and my land .