EDISON, NJ (TIP): Photo Editor of SnapsIndia  Mohammed Jaffer, a proud Hyderabadi of Jersey City, traveled with US President Barack Obama as a member of the 100-plus White House Press Corps that included White House staff photographers as well as journalists from agencies like the Associated Press and Reuters and national newspapers.

 

“Traveling with the president as part of his media delegation is very prestigious and is a chance of a lifetime,” Jaffer told The Jersey Journal. “For me, it’s a great honor and golden opportunity to gain professional experience and would be a highlight of my career. Being an Indian, I am really proud of it.” 

 

Jaffer, 45, has been living in Jersey City for well over 20 years and has extensively covered city-based events.

 

In 1992, he started Jersey City SnapsIndia News Photo Service, a subsidiary of SnapsIndia, which was founded by his father over half a century ago in Hyderabad, southern India. He started his career in photojournalism in Hudson County, covering Columbus Day parades, Halloween events, Memorial Day events, the India Day Parade and City Hall functions, including the city’s India Day celebration.

 

A native of Hyderabad, Jaffer has seen his work published in leading dailies in India as well as in ethnic newspapers in the United States and Canada.

 

By his own admission, photography runs in his blood as his late father, M A Rahim, was a leading photographer in Hyderabad.

 

“I think I have inherited his passion,” he said. “Today I cannot think of anything else for a living but news photography.”

 

In 2007, then-Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy awarded him a proclamation for being “an outstanding citizen for the contribution to the community.” Former President Bill Clinton opened Jaffer’s photo exhibition at the Regent Wall Street hotel in New York in June 2001. His photo showing Clinton, during the president’s India visit, sitting cross-legged under a tree in Gandhi’s Sabarmati Ashram hangs at the Clinton’s Presidential Library.

 

Jaffer was honored by the New York City Council with the Outstanding Citizen award in August 2007 for his “exemplary services” to media in the U.S. and India.

 

“I look forward to having a very exciting and productive time in terms of news photography,” Jaffer said, “and having moments that I will cherish throughout my life.

 

By Suman Guha Mozumder