Bandi Rajan Babu

Bandi Rajan Babu (9 February 1938 – 25 August 2011) was an Indian photographer, known for his black and white pictures of tribal people. He also owned the Rajan School of Photography.

Bandi Rajan Babu was born at Korutla, in the Karimnagar district of Telangana. Starting his career as a lecturer at JNTU Fine Arts College, he went on to establish his own school and master the craft of ‘pictorial photography'. He was a Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain, an Associate of the Federation of International Photographic Art, France, and an Honorary Fellow of the AP State Akademi of Photography.

Rajan took to serious photography in 1960 after joining the Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, and became a pictorial, fashion and glamour, industrial and advertising photographer. He drew inspiration from Raja Triambak Raj Bahadur, the first one from erstwhile Andhra Pradesh to be honoured with the status of Associate of Britain's Royal Photographic Society. Rajan, who was on the faculty of JNTU, got his first international honour from Belgium, received the APRS honour in 1983, and followed it up with the Fellowship of the Royal Photographic Society in 1987.

Rajan Babu wanted to become a painter and he was all set to become one until given a Kodak. “One of my cousins presented me with a camera when I was in my seventh class and I casually clicked some photos that were appreciated by all and that was the seeding of a photographer in me. Later, when I joined the five-year diploma course in commercial art, I came across Raja Triambak Raj Bahadur, a pioneer in pictorial photography. It was he who inspired me to wield the camera. And here I am today from a painter to a photographer."

Starting his career as a lecturer in photography in Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad, he later worked as a scientific photographer in International Crop Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics. He opened his studio in 1978 and has, thereafter, been one among the leading photographers in India. Apart from winning a number of national and international awards he is the only Fellow of Royal Photographic Society from AP.

He also married and had three kids. He has 5 grand children.