Amber light stretches across the room. A performer leans into the crowd, his silhouette repeated in violet and blue. In a photograph by Rafftee Rahman, the energy of a live show becomes something you can almost feel moving through the frame.
Based in Dhaka, Bangladesh, S M Rafftee Rahman—known on Instagram as @roughtea.68—works across photography and moving images. His portfolio spans fashion, products, corporate assignments and concerts. Across the work selected here, a clear interest emerges: finding how light can change the way a moment feels.
Concert photography demands timing. A gesture, a glance or a change in stage lighting can disappear in an instant. Rafftee holds on to those human details while letting the surrounding light become expressive: streaks cross the frame, repeated forms suggest movement, and warm highlights push against deep blue shadows.
His photographs also reach beyond his own feed. Mixmag Asia credited Rafftee Rahman for its gallery of the first Mixmag Lab Dhaka, held in June 2025. That coverage places his camera within the city’s electronic music scene, documenting the people and atmosphere that give it its character.
In the series shared by SZFilters, portraits of Sheikh Saadi Mahmud sit alongside vivid live performance images. Our Psyco filters help open the frame to repetition, fractured color and unexpected shapes. Rafftee makes those effects part of the composition, keeping the subject readable while giving the surrounding space room to transform.
Notice the balance: a face or a gesture remains the point of connection, even when the edges become abstract. The optical effect draws us in; the person gives us a reason to stay.
Rafftee’s work appeared in the first edition of Inspiration, the SZFilters magazine. On page 34, his performance photograph accompanies Der Psyco Kaleido: a fitting pairing for an image in which the artist, the audience and the stage lighting seem to echo through one another.
The photograph chosen as the cover of this article is that same image. It captures what we value in our creative community: a photographer taking an optical tool and making something recognizably their own.
His reel with SZFilters extends this visual language into an edited piece, with post-production credited to @roughtea_media. Watch the original below for another side of his work as a visual storyteller.
There is an adventurous eye behind these images, and a willingness to explore both still photography and film. Rafftee is a creative voice from Bangladesh worth following as his work develops. We are glad to have a small part in that exploration.
Discover more on Instagram @roughtea.68 and in his online portfolio.
Photography and original motion work © Rafftee Rahman / @roughtea.68. Instagram posts are linked to their original creators.
ZÖLLE UND STEUERN
