Saibal Das (1960), born in a small town, Chandannagore, near Calcutta. Though it didn’t interest him as a career option, he graduated with a degree in Commerce. Like many young photographers at the time, he hung around newspaper offices in the city. Finally, The Telegraph gave him a job in 1986, covering the daily news. Two years later, he joined India Today as a staff photographer. Covering East and North East India, he spent considerable time documenting the ULFA insurgency and the ethnic battle between the Nagas and the Kukis. He also documented many important socio-political events in Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan.

In 1996, he moved to the New Delhi office when he was assigned to cover the Taliban invasion in Kabul. Saibal was awarded ‘The Media Fellowship’ by the National Foundation of India in 1999 which enabled his photo-essay on the nomadic lives of the circus girls in India and his story on Kerala's folk festival Pulikali was awarded the first prize at the Humanitarian Photo Awards in Beijing. Saibal has recently turned freelance photographer after working with Outlook (Bangalore bureau) for the last 3 years. He lives in Bangalore with his wife and only son.