Former Kabbadi Player From Kerala Become Award-Winner Photographer In UAE

The Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum International Photography Award, worth 50,000 dirhams (approximately Rs 10 lakh)was given to the photographer. He won after being chosen from a total of 2,176 contestants from 89 nations.

However, the road to become a well-known photographer was not easy. Shaji, a former Kerala University kabaddi player, was gravely hurt during one of his games in Dubai, where he had gone to work in 2009, during one of his games. He was unable to play again as a result of the injury, and he decided to give up athletics in order to pursue his passion for photography.

He remembered that he continued to participate in sports. However, ligament damage occurred as a result of a knee injury. For several days, he was bedridden, and physicians urged him to stop playing Kabaddi. That was a watershed moment in his life.

Shaji claims that when he was in college, he wasn't interested in photography and was more interested in Kabaddi and painting. Shaji moved to the UAE after graduating from Milad-E-Sherief Memorial (MS) College in Kayamkulam and decided to continue to be engaged in sports.

Shaji is currently employed as a marketing executive for a steel company, and he lives with his wife Rakhi Elizabeth and daughter Aami. His photography, he claims, is centred on the lives of everyday people in the UAE. On vacations, he visited to villages to photograph life among sand dunes and farmhouses remote from the city centre.

Meanwhile, his work has also been included in National Geographic Magazine. He was awarded the 5th international photography award titled '35 Awards' in Russia two years ago, and the following year, he received the Canon Middle East Photography Competition in 2020-2021. In addition, he is the winner of the Karl Taylor international photography competition 'Patterns 2021.'