Mobeen Ansari

18/05/2026

Absolutely love this custom made light box featuring my photography taken over the years by The Living Glass!

08/05/2026

Where stories meet

Corner of Northern and Western facade of the Picture Wall

04/05/2026

Reunited with my NCA mate and bandmate Zohair Elahi after so many years- and covered Everybody Hurts- which we'd performed in college in nearly two decades ago. Hope you enjoy this!

Everybody Hurts cover by Zohair Elahi and Mobeen Ansari

01/05/2026

Lapis Lazuli

30/04/2026

Tales in the sky

16/04/2026

My heart feels heavy, as I write this farewell to Raza Kazim, who just passed away this afternoon.

He was such a larger than life figure that it is really difficult to even begin describing him. I could talk about his brilliance - from making Saagar Veena instrument- to his advocacy work in his years as a lawyer- to impacting countless lives with Sanjan Nagar Institute of Philosophy and Arts- and finally- to his photography- which had such a major influence on me and my work. He was truly a pioneer of street photography. He not only used to take his large cameras in old streets of Lahore, but he also experimented in the darkroom and came up with the most brilliant abstract images- so far ahead of his time.

I will never forget the first time I met him in 2009. It was still early on in my career and approaching my last year in college. His grandsons, Ali Noor and Ali Hamza, who are dear friends took me to meet him at his house, where I saw huge photos of old portraits and still life he had done on large format cameras. After seeing his work and having a detailed talk about him with Ali Noor, I went to his office, and there he sat, smoking a cigarrette and working on one of his Bhullay speakers- another invention of his. We sat down, and he went through my photographs, which were printed on a portfolio book, and he looked through each and every one of them and asked questions. He put it down, and looked at me and said that he noticed I worked a lot with colour, and said the following words which I'll never forget:

'I can teach you how to shoot black and white, and you can teach me how to shoot in colour. You become old, and I become young'.

Not only did these words make me fall in love with black and white photography, but were a lesson in humility- and that no matter what age or stage of life we're in, we're always learning, and in the process of it, we can always try new things. This is one of the million things I've learnt from Raza Sahib

Such was the sheer brilliance and stature of this man that he felt like a rare polymath of our own time, someone who refused to be confined to a single discipline.There is a reason we remember people who are larger than life because there are so few of them in the world, and Raza Sahib was one of them. May he rest in peace, and may his family, community, and well wishers find patience to deal with this immense loss.

15/04/2026

Bol by ‎⁨Noori is a song very close to my heart. It's a song about speaking your heart out- and has gotten me through some of the most eventful phases of my life- from school exams to my college thesis days, to getting through Covid lockdown. For almost 18 years, I envisioned making a music video on it, and it became a possibility in 2021.

Now, having learnt how to play the song over the years, I get to jam on it with ‎⁨Ali Hamza, one half of the Noori band. What an absolute honor and joy. Hope you guys enjoy this impromptu jam, done without a rehearsal!

Bol by ‎⁨⁩ is a song very close to my heart. It's a song about speaking your heart out- and has gotten me through some of the most eventful phas...

09/04/2026

Interviewed by Canvas Rebel. Check it out!

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Mobeen Ansari a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below. Alright, Mobeen thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What's been the most meaningful project you've worked on? As a photojournalist, I work on....

03/04/2026

Dusk over Shah Burj gate

29/03/2026

Revisiting photos of last year's Mela Chiraghan, as the Urs of Shah Hussain enters its second day