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When Ramesh Shukla arrived on the shores of the Gulf in the 1960s, he couldn't have known that history was unfolding before him or that he would become one of its most devoted witnesses.
Born in Ahmedabad, India, Ramesh Shukla arrived in Dubai at 22 after a five-day voyage with his Rolleicord camera, where he would find his lifelong purpose. “My ship, Dwaraka, docked in Sharjah… Little did I know that moment would mark the beginning of my lifelong mission: to tell the story of the Emirates through my photography.” he wrote on his personal website.
After meeting the late Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Ramesh began working closely with the royal family, earning him the unofficial moniker of The Royal Photographer. His images have since graced postage stamps and the 50-Dirham banknote printed in 2021.
It is in this modest reflection that we begin to understand the man behind the camera. Shukla didn't arrive seeking fame or fortune like many in the Gulf. He arrived with genuine curiosity, a camera in hand and an instinct to preserve a country rising before his eyes.
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In the years leading up to the formation of the United Arab Emirates in 1971, few people carried cameras. Fewer still were present at the defining moments that shaped the region’s future. Ramesh Shukla happened to be one of them. “Few people had cameras back then, and many were fascinated by mine … giving me the rare privilege of capturing the traditions, heritage and everyday moments of the Emirates.” He mentions in his personal biography on his website.
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Through his lens, Shukla captured a collage of harsh desert landscapes and gatherings of leaders, now historical milestones. Photographs of ordinary streets in what would later become global cities like Dubai and Abu Dhabi, preserved long before skyscrapers characterised its skylines.
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He photographed the founding father of the nation, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, not merely as a statesman, but as a humanitarian and visionary. But Shukla never boasted about these encounters as personal triumphs, he attributed them to timing, gratitude and responsibility.
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One of Ramesh Shukla’s most iconic photographs came almost by instinct. “They all came and I just told them to stop: click, click, click,” he recalled in an interview with Khaleej Times. He credited the image’s enduring impact to the serendipity of timing, saying he was simply “at the right place, at the right time.” This moment exemplifies how Shukla’s intuition and readiness allowed him to preserve some of the UAE’s most historic events.
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In an era when photography increasingly became commercial, Shukla’s motivation remained beautifully simple. “I love history. I don’t love money. I don’t care about money, but I am very happy to cover history.”
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There is something profoundly moving and humbling in that admission. Call it acute foresight or a deep intuition, Ramesh Shukla understood that the transformation around him was rare; rapid, fragile and worth remembering. He often said he didn't realise he was “creating history” he was simply doing his job. Yet what he called “just a job” became a documentation for a nation’s collective memory.
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Shukla’s career took a defining turn in 1968 during a camel race in Sharjah. Capturing a candid, joyful moment of the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, he was later presented with one of his own prints, signed by the leader, who remarked, “Ramesh, you are Fannan,” meaning an artist. This recognition marked a pivotal moment, opening the door for Shukla to chronicle many of the UAE’s most historic events.
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Those who knew him describe a gentle presence, patient and observant, a trait carried through in his son, Neel Shukla. A prominent artist and founder of commercial fine-art suppliers, Four Seasons Ramesh Gallery in Dubai. He believed in focusing on the eyes when taking portraits because, as he taught, the rest is secondary. It was advice about photography, yes. But it was also about empathy. To see someone fully, you must first meet their gaze. Perhaps that is why his photographs feel intimate even when they document monumental events.
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