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Biography
Souvid Datta (born 1990) is a British Indian photographer.
Biography
Datta was born in Mumbai in 1990, into a Bengali family. His father is a banker and his mother a writer and director. Datta grew up in India and London. He went to Harrow School and studied law and politics at university. As a photojournalist, Datta undertook projects across the world for a variety of clients, including National Geographic, TIME, The Guardian, The New York Times, BBC, etc. He won numerous awards, including the PDN 30 in 2017, the Pulitzer Centre Grant in 2016, the Getty Grant for Editorial Photography in 2015, PDN Annual in 2015, and Magnum Photos 30 Under 30 Award in 2015. He also participated in Sky Arts' reality TV show Masters of Photography and shot a documentary on the folk music of India (Tuning 2 You: Lost Musicians of India), which was hosted by his brother Soumik Datta, an accomplished sarod player, and broadcast on Channel 4 in 2017. His work was heavily promoted by LensCulture.
Plagiarism controversy
In a May 2017 article in PetaPixel, Datta was exposed for plagiarizing elements of an image by American photographer Mary Ellen Mark for a photo project on prostitution in Calcutta in 2013. Similar evidence emerged from other sources. Datta himself gave an interview to TIME Magazine, admitting these and other allegations, including the appropriation of images originally taken by photographer Daniele Volpe in Guatemala. The incident led to Datta's work being taken down by a number of photojournalism websites while grants and awards were withdrawn by bodies such as the Pulitzer Center, Visura, National Press Photographers Association Magnum Photos and the Alexia Foundation. Datta's profile on LensCulture was suspended "due to ethical concerns". Donald Weber (photographer) described Datta's conduct as "utterly mind-blowing idiocy". Datta's proven failure to comply with fundamental photojournalistic ethics kicked off a round of questioning and soul-searching in the photojournalism community at large.
Staged image on "Master of Photography"
In a July 2017 article in PetaPixel, it was revealed that Datta had staged an image while a contestant on the Sky Arts television series "Master of Photography". Having been sent to document the daily life of a Sami people tribesman living in a frigid environment, Datta presented to the judges a nighttime image of a man with a torchlight on his head facing away from the camera and illuminating the landscape. The judges assumed that the figure was the tribesman Datta had been assigned to document. However, in response to a question from judge Caroline Hunter of The Guardian, Datta admitted that the subject was himself and he had set up the image in order to capture the northern lights after the tribesman had in fact gone home. Another judge, photographer Darcy Padilla, commented that Datta had "led us to believe it was more reportage" and that he "could have done some more thinking". He nevertheless progressed to the final round of the competition.