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“Nature is replaced by plastic, survival is presented as celebration. Urbanisation turns rivers into markets, creatures into commodities, and memory into something fleeting,” says the award-winning photographer. | Credit: \u00a9 Jubair Ahmed Arnob, Bangladesh, Student Photographer of the Year, Student Competition, Sony World Photography Awards 2026<\/p>\n
“The fish belong in the river \u2013 but the river is gone.” A man who was once a fisherman stands in the remaining shallow water in Dhaka, Bangladesh \u2013 now selling plastic imitations of fish that can no longer be caught here.<\/p>\n
It’s a stark, visually striking scene \u2013 one that points to a wider reality where nature is replaced by replicas. The image captures the impact of urbanization, a theme central to Jubair Ahmed Arnob<\/a>‘s series The Place Where I Used To Play, which visually narrates the changing landscape of Green Model Town \u2013 a process reshaping daily life and the suburban typography.<\/p>\n Now, the work has earned Arnob the Student Photographer of the Year title at the Sony World Photography Awards 2026, which this year invited students globally to submit to the theme Together. It marks the first time in the competition’s 19-year history that a photographer from Bangladesh has received the honor.<\/p>\n Where the Water Once Was \u2013 the Balu River is now a makeshift playground. This image opens the series, reflecting how communities preserve memory, even as urbanization erases the past | Credit: \u00a9 Jubair Ahmed Arnob, Bangladesh, Student Photographer of the Year, Student Competition, Sony World Photography Awards 2026<\/p>\n Arnob is a documentary photographer based in Bangladesh, working on socio-environmental change and quiet, often overlooked narratives.<\/p>\n He developed his practice at Counter Foto<\/a>, an institution that has been shaping Bangladesh’s contemporary photography scene. Its approach emphasizes locally, rooted, socially engaged education \u2013 using photography as a tool “for pleasure but also as a weapon to change society for good.”<\/p>\n Arnob’s series reflects this ethos. He uses photography as a tool for observation, resistance, and reflection. What begins as a personal memory of place becomes a broader metaphor for loss and adaptation, where lived experience is gradually replaced by representation.<\/p>\n The Migration of Dreams \u2013 The image evokes resilience and tenderness amid vanishing nature and advancing concrete. Arnob notes, “the parents embody adaptation and migration, while their children’s innocence contrasts with looming towers, hinting at hope and uncertain futures” | Credit: \u00a9 Jubair Ahmed Arnob, Bangladesh, Student Photographer of the Year, Student Competition, Sony World Photography Awards 2026<\/p>\n SWPA’s exhibition in London<\/p>\n The Sony World Photography Awards 2026 exhibition is on display at Somerset House, London, from April 17 to May 4, presenting over 300 prints and hundreds of images in digital displays, as well as a special presentation by Joel Meyerowitz.<\/p>\n For more information and to discover the full list of winners and shortlisted entries, visit the official Sony World Photography Awards website<\/a>.<\/p>\n You might like…<\/p>\n Check out our guides for a breakdown of the best Sony cameras<\/a> and best Sony lenses<\/a>.<\/p>\n Looking for competitions to enter? Here are 10 global photo contests now open for entries from April to July.<\/a><\/p>\n![\"In](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/0a71a7e08048a1f37169acc60ac93564.jpeg\"\/)
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