Feature: Hundreds of photographers snap for cash along world's longest beach in Bangladesh

Tourists love to capture the many wonderful moments they experience at Cox's Bazar, one of the world's longest unbroken sandy beaches, situated around 300 km southeast of Bangladesh's capital city of Dhaka.

For tourists in this picturesque region nestled on the Bay of Bengal, not having a camera or a smartphone and selfie-stick is not a problem.

This is because dotted along the 120 km of beach are hundreds of photo stands with photographers ready to take holiday snaps for reasonable rates and in doing so helping to capture holiday makers' ideal sunsets, fun and frolics in the sea, or other beautiful scenes at Cox's Bazar.

Saju, who uses a single name, is living and working in Dubai and has been visiting the beach city with his family members.

He hired a beachfront photographer to take pictures of him and his family in the sea as he didn't want to risk dropping his phone in the ocean if he lost grip of his selfie-stick.

Saju also opted for a local photographer because he suggested different angles for better looking photos.

"I'm on vacation with my family and there are so many great photo opportunities here to capture our wonderful memories," Saju told Xinhua recently, adding that the local photographers provide a very decent service.

"I chose to buy most of the pictures our photographer took and he delivered them to our hotel later. I could also have chosen to order them to be sent through social media sites. Bangladesh has become truly digitalized," he said.

Another holiday maker, Faria Ahmed, who has been visiting the beach with her husband Ashiq also expressed her deep satisfaction as the photographer they hired also helped them to get shots from great angles and with the best backdrops.

"It's great because all the prices were fixed in advance and the photographer was very skillful and creative. He had some great ideas," she said.

Ahmed also said that the beach photographers deliver pictures within the shortest possible time.

Photographer Abdullah, who has been offering his services at the Cox's Bazar beach for the last 12 years, said he tries his best to win customers' hearts by offering a fast, high-quality and professional service.

"More tourists means more money for us," said the photographer, who has practiced photography since the era of analogue cameras.

"The beach authorities have given me, like all recognized photographers, a uniform. More and more guests are visiting the beach and we try our best to win their hearts with great photographs."

Another photographer, Polash, has been involved with the profession since 2001.

He said that in the past Cox's Bazaar had not been particularly developed, but that these days there is very good beach administration, better security and more facilities available to tourists.

"The beach is very safe now. Tourists are coming and visiting places in Cox's Bazar without any trouble."

"When we used to shoot on film we charged 20 taka for one printed photo. Now we provide photos on memory cards and also charge 20 taka for one printed photo," said Polash.

He went on to explain how he provides photos in various ways as per customers' choice and that business is booming now.

Taking photos for customers on the beach has also created an earning opportunity for Md Babul, a student, who works on the beach snapping pics during his free time.

"I need to earn money for myself and my family. The district administration has fixed the prices of photos so for each digital photo we charge 5 taka. But for each printed photo a customer needs to pay 20 taka," he said.

Photographer Dildar told Xinhua he spent 40,000 taka to buy a camera and lens to set up his beachfront photography operation.

"I earn about 10,000-12,000 taka every month. The more people come, the more I earn," the happy snapper said. (1 U.S. dollar equals about 82 taka). Endit