Karachi-based photojournalist Akthar Soomro is among the hottest photographers on the global circuit right now, making his mark at a time of unprecedented change.
Soomro has covered everything from climate change and Pakistan’s deadly Sunni-Shi’ite divide, to local politics, and his most recent work, a profile of Pakistan’s first all women’s boxing club in the town of Lyari.
Born in Lyari himself, Soomro graduated from the Government College of Science and Technology with a degree in engineering, but it seems life had other plans.
According to agency Reuters, for whom he works now, Soomro’s process of learning photography began with buying used books and magazines from old bookshops.
In 1998 he began working for a photo lab, and then moved to an advertising agency, before being hit with the realization that he wanted to be a photojournalist.
Since then he has contributed his work to agencies such as Corbis, Image Works and Sigma, and had his photos published in the Daily Times, The Financial Post, International Herald Tribune, The New York Times, and on National Public Radio’s website. In 2009, Soomro was part of the New York Times’ team that won a Pulitzer for its reporting from Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Flip through some of the images above, to get but a taste of this man’s spectacular talent. The rest of his portfolio can be found here.
Image credits: Akhtar Soomro / Reuters