Raghubir Singh Biography 
Raghubir Singh was an Indian photographer, popular with his landscapes and documentary-style photographs of Indian people. He was a self-taught photographer who worked in India and lived in Paris, London and New York. He has worked with leading magazines and newspapers worldwide like National Geographic Magazine, The New York Times, The New Yorker and Time. He was one among those photographers of early 11970’s, who reinvented use of color photography, at a time when black and white photos were most commonly used. Singh belongs to a tradition of small-format street photography.
Singh was born in Jaipur, Rajasthan on October 22, 1942 in a Rajput family. His father was a feudal landowner of Khetri. During his childhood he happened to read a less known book Beautiful Jaipur, written by Cartier-Bresson which inspired him to see photography a little more near. His schooling was done at St. Xavier's School, Jaipur. Later he joined the Hindu College at Delhi but dropped out in his first year to pursue a career in photography. He shifted to Kolkata to work in a tea estate aside his brother, who has been already there. It proved unsuccessful as his real ambition was to become a photographer. Very soon, he took photography in a serious level.
Very soon, he introduced himself to many intellectuals of Kolkata circle including historian R. P. Gupta and film maker Satyajit Ray, who later designed the cover of his first book as well as its illustration. During middle 1960’s, Life Magazine published eight pages of his photographs. He moved to Hong Kong and did photo features for National Geographic Magazine, The New York Times. Singh published his first book, Ganges in 1974. He chose colour as his medium and his unique view of India became the most outstanding images shot by any photographer about India. Later he moved to Paris and carved a series of portfolios of colour photography on India. He was awarded the Padma Shri, by Government of India in 1983. Mother Jones Lifetime Achievement Award and Maharaja Sawai Ram Singh Award are other noted honours.
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Updated: March 17, 2014
