Draft:Irfan Mirza

= Irfan Mirza = Irfan Mirza (Urdu: عرفان مرزا) is a writer and a photographic artist who specializes in capturing evocative images of the beauty of the world. Irfan has published three of the most scintillating coffee table books on Pakistan. Discovering Pakistan through his lens: Irfan published his debut coffee table book Pakistan Beauty & Splendour. It was the first coffee table book on photography published by a Pakistani photographer. He has also won the second prize at the National Photography Exhibition for his picture Hiran Minar.

Published Books

 * His book Pakistan Beauty & Splendour is a fascinating and inspiring narrative of Pakistan's exceptional natural beauty. It features an amazing assortment of 167 compelling photographs of seldom-seen and occasionally undiscovered areas.
 * GILGIT BALTISTAN Pakistan's Beauty and Majesty is a spellbinding tribute to nature and the magic of Gilgit-Baltistan and Pakistan.
 * CONCORDIA-AT THE EDGE OF K2 explores the breathtaking journey to K2 base camp through stunning photography and compelling trekking memoirs.

About the author
He was born in February 1972 in the historical city of Sialkot. His early schooling was at the Convent of Jesus and Mary and later at Government Pilot School with the predisposition in Sciences. After that, he went to Government College, Lahore. He did graduation in Space Sciences and M.B.A. from Punjab University. Although he pursued further education in that field, his interest and passion for photography never abated. In fact, it has been deeply rooted within him from his childhood ever since he saw the photographic equipment used by his late maternal grandfather, Bashir Ahmed Bhatti.

Inspiration
Never having been much of a traveler previously, Irfan dates his profound fascination with photography back to a business trip he made to London, UK, 15 years ago during which he needed to take a photograph of a product sample. He bought himself his very first camera; a Kodak 3 megapixel and as he held it, he found his calling. That same business trip also led him to Las Palmas, Spain, a city he fell in love with, and using his Kodak, he clicked his first set of unforgettable memories. Upon his return to Pakistan, his desire to look at the world anew through a lens took him back to his hometown in Sialkot where he decided to start his life's most valuable and exciting pictorial journey. Sialkot is a city with an avalanche of historical landmarks and diverse natural beauty and wildlife. It is also the hub of migratory birds from different parts of the world, particularly from the Siberian area. Most wildlife photographers from all over the world come to Sialkot for photographing birds. Irfan considers himself the pioneer of wildlife photography in the city of Sialkot. From then on, Irfan and his camera were inseparable, as it led him to fall in love with his own country, and the desire to share and spread its beauty with the world, gave birth to this book Pakistan Beauty & Splendour.