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Dundee photographer Shahbaz Majeed ‘dumbfounded’ at RSGS fellowship award

The award-winning BBC Landward presenter, who is renowned for his landscape and aerial photography, received the prestigious Royal Scottish Geographical Society award in Dundee

Shahbaz Majeed receives his honorary fellowship of the RSGS from Lorna Ogilvie. Image: RSGS
Shahbaz Majeed receives his honorary fellowship of the RSGS from Lorna Ogilvie. Image: RSGS

Award-winning Dundee-based landscape and aerial photographer Shahbaz Majeed has been awarded an honorary fellowship by the Perth-based Royal Scottish Geographical Society.

Shahbaz is a self-taught photographer, who learned many of his skills from the Dundee Photographic Society.

He has created several books and his images have been displayed all over the world, including on the £5 polymer banknote for the Clydesdale Bank and the £20 note for the Bank of Scotland.

Award-winning Dundee photographer Shahbaz Majeed will present a segment on BBC Landward this week
Award-winning Dundee photographer Shahbaz Majeed

Shahbaz said that when he heard he was being offered a fellowship, he was “dumbfounded” and it took several days to fully sink in.

What did Shahbaz Majeed’s family think when he told them the news?

“When I shared the news with some close friends and family, they were genuinely not surprised and it was through their kind words that I started to understand more of the impact I seem to be having through my work, far more than I have ever considered,” he said.

“To look at just some of the names who have been awarded fellowships in the past makes it even more surprising, and yet also deeply humbling, that I have been considered alongside such highly impactful and treasured names I and am struggling to put into words my sheer appreciation of the position I find myself in with this award.

“I am immensely humbled and would like to thank the RSGS for honouring a simple person such as me – this moment is something that my family and I will cherish for a very long time.”

Shahbaz Majeed (right) with his fellow BBC Landward presenters Arlene Stuart, Cammy Wilson, Anne McAlpine, Rosie Morton and Dougie Vipond. Image: Shahbaz Majeed

RSGS Trustee Lorna Ogilvie said Shahbaz is a photographer who demonstrates a “clear love and geographic understanding of the landscapes he captures on film”.

She said: “He has been able to engage his audience effectively in the beauty and intricacies of landscapes of Scotland.

“However, on top of his ability to take beautiful photos of landscapes, Shahbaz also has a wonderful ability to communicate an empathetic understanding and appreciation of these landscapes.

“And he shows that it is not just the spectacular landscapes that have something to say, but the everyday ones too, whether they be rural or urban.

“It is for this reason that the sense of geography in his work is so wonderfully clear.”

Bank notes featuring Shahbaz Majeed images

Shahbaz Majeed, who’s become a familiar face to viewers of BBC Landward,  gave a Royal Scottish Geographical Society Inspiring People talk in Dundee on November 7.

Further talks will take place in March in Inverness, Perth & Stirling.

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