In the minds of his friends and family, the future of Jobayer Hossain Shuvo was somewhat predetermined and predictable. He was one of the brightest students to come out of Comilla Zilla school, and him getting admitted in IUT to study engineering raised no eyebrows on that regard. But when he left it all behind for the pursuit of greatness in photography, everyone could tell he wasn't taking it as a mere hobby. Only a few photos shot by him at IUT concerts and at friends' weddings had tell-tale signs of the hidden talent that was bursting at the seams, waiting to pop out and make him renowned.
The same man recently received an international membership from WPPA for illustrating Bengali wedding culture with his photography. WPPA is one of the biggest photography institution in Asia that provides membership to the world’s best photographers based on the artistic quality and professionalism of the photographer. The judges take interviews of the photographers and analyse their work, and Shuvo's work passed the test quickly.
At first, he was worried that they might not like it, but to his astonishment, they asked, “Can you show us a few more photos? It's possible that you will be the first one to receive the craftsmanship award from your country.”
Unfortunately, he hadn’t snapped too many. As a result, he had to be content with the licentiateship award alone, which is quite respectable on its own, being the second photographer from Bangladesh to ever receive it. However, Shuvo was looking forward to becoming the best photographer not only in Asia, but in the world.
This recognition indicates that Shuvo is successful both as an entrepreneur and a photographer. But was the path of this journey an easy one? Far from it. Shuvo and his team from IUT started their photography firm “Dream Weaver” while they were just students. Finding the capital was not easy and having satisfactory clients was even harder. Hence, he had to buy his own gear and camera from taking private classes, and the first wedding event they covered was the wedding ceremony of the “canteen mama,” thereby receiving a mere Tk500 as payment. With passing time, the photos of their Facebook page started accumulating attention and made them the most sought after photographers. Although the load of engineering was very hectic, he managed to bring out the best from both worlds. He passed engineering within time with a respectable degree.
But why would an engineer choose photography as a profession? Many people could not swallow the idea. And it wasn't only him, but 24 members from the group of Dream Weaver photographers are engineers who dared to take photography as their profession, and all of them are quite content with their decision. Luckily, Shuvo’s family and his significant other were always supportive and he remained determined to follow his passion. Although wedding photography was a luxury reserved only for the elites in the beginning, numerous people from ordinary backgrounds also dreamed to get photographed on their special day. Subsequently, Dream Weaver made their wedding photography affordable and conventional for the middle class, and now the rising popularity of wedding photography among all classes of people is very prominent after the change.
When we tried to ferret out the reason behind their success and how they came to have 600,000 fans along with arranging two “Bibaho Utshab” (wedding festival) within three years, we realised that it was their professionalism, hard work and savvy marketing strategy that led them to glory. As a result, they had opened their second branch in Chittagong on June 15, 2015 at Madina Tower. However, not relying on our own assumption, we thought it would be better to hear from him the secret of his success, to which he replied promptly,”If everyone follows their dream and passion and start taking their best skill as their profession, then I believe we will have more people like Einstein, Picasso and Mozart. Many youngsters are crazy to get a job. But I think they should focus more on becoming a successful entrepreneur.”
