Dubai: Prominent Dubai-based wildlife expert Dr Reza Khan has won the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Shutter Bugs Creative Forum (SBCF).
Dr Khan, who is the principal wildlife specialist at Dubai Safari and Dubai Municipality, will be awarded during a ceremony on May 27 in Dubai.
Founded in 2009, SBCF is a group of “serious amateur photographers” based in Dubai, mentored by Indian photographer Mohammad Asif. This is the third time SBCF is bestowing the award.
Dr Khan, a Bangladeshi expat who is famous for his wildlife expertise, has built up a considerable body of photographic work as well, taking his own images for his books and research.
SBCF describes him as a “remarkable wildlife expert, ornithologist, conservationist and wildlife photographer”.
Dr Khan, 70, said he has been left pleasantly surprised and honoured by the news.
Pictures of wildlife and flora taken by him occasionally lead to a flurry of excitement on social media as Dr Khan sometimes captures rare and evasive species on camera during his field trips.
A few years ago, Dr Khan snapped a Franklin’s gull off the coast of Fujairah, making it one of the only sightings of the migratory bird recorded outside its native region of North America.
“Within hours of posting the picture, my Facebook page was flooded with interest from people. They wanted to rush to go see it,” he told Gulf News.
And as recently as Sunday, Dr Khan posted a photo of a Mangrove Trumpet flower that was taken during a trip to Bangladesh. “It was a white flower in an endless stretch of green forest, so I took a picture. Everyone wanted to know where I got this picture.”
Dr Khan has over 24 books, 50 publications, memberships and recognitions to his name, the SBCF notes.
For his Birds of Dubai book, published by Dubai Municipality, Dr Khan took 370 pictures. He also took some 170 images for his Indigenous Trees of the UAE title, also published by Dubai Municipality.
Earlier this year, the President of Bangladesh, Abdul Hamid, presented Dr Khan with a lifetime achievement award during the 25th anniversary celebrations of the Daily Star newspaper. He was recognised for his work in wildlife.
