In the 1980s and 1990s, as many of us in Marcellus were trying to make sense of the country we lived in, we encountered Raghu Rai’s photographs. Each picture seemed to open a window for us into an India which we did not know and hadn’t encountered in our teenage lives. Mr Rai’s pictures of India adorned the front pages of India’s newspapers and the covers of its magazines. For millions of Indians, Raghu Rai’s framing of India was a part of their mental image of the nation.
Raghu Rai passed away on 26th April 2026 after an extended battle with cancer. This obituary in the BBC (resplendent with Raghu Rai’s most striking photos) is a fitting tribute to modern India’s most famous photographer. Abhishek Dey writes for the BBC:
“Rai spent more than five decades documenting the country, capturing moments from political power to everyday life with striking clarity.
From the aftermath of the gas tragedy in central India’s Bhopal to the years of militancy in northern India’s Punjab, which killed thousands in the 1980s, Rai’s images shaped how India saw its most defining events.
His work did not merely record history but shaped how a nation saw it. It helped define modern Indian photojournalism, earning global recognition and influencing generations of photographers.
Rai began his career at The Statesman newspaper in 1966 and later worked as photo editor at India Today and Sunday magazines.
He joined globally recognised photography agency Magnum Photos in 1977 – often seen as one of the highest recognitions in photography – with the support of pioneering French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson, whose work had a lasting influence on him.
Rai’s photographs of former prime minister Indira Gandhi remain among the most enduring visual records of political power in India…Rai’s work during the years of militancy in Punjab during the 1980s remains among his most striking. His portrait of Sikh separatist leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale captured a moment heavy with tension and consequence.
Rai often spoke about photography as something far deeper than technique.
In one of his interviews, Rai described photography as a form of spiritual engagement with the world, saying: “I meet my god through my camera”.
“Once I pick up my camera, I am driven by the ever-changing energy of life and nature,” he said. “When you have invested mentally, physically, and spiritually in situations and take pictures constantly, it is like investing in a bank of life in which the returns keep getting bigger and the energy keeps you going.””
RIP Raghu Rai.
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