F.E. Chaudhry, 2011.

Portrait of F.E. Chaudhry, a local photographer in Lahore at the time of Partition.

Faustin Elmer Chaudhry (1909-2013), popularly known as ‘Chacha’ was a photojournalist based in Lahore at the time of Partition. He was born to a Christian Rajput family in Shaharanpur, British India. His hobby of photography turned into a freelance journalism career. In 1934, F.E. Chaudhry was teaching science at St. Anthony’s High School, Lahore, when he started his freelance photography. In 1935, Civil and Military Gazette, Lahore published his first news photography. Following this, he free-lanced for Illustrated Weekly of India, Statesman, Bombay and other papers. In 1949, F.E. Chaudhry joined The Pakistan Times and remained associated with it until his retirement in 1973. During his photography career, he documented important events. Among them were the 1940 Muslim League Session in Lahore where a Resolution for a separate Muslim state was passed. In 1947, he was the only known local Pakistani photographer who captured the events surrounding Partition.