One man is making it his mission to photograph the buildings and landmarks seen on currency from around the world, which brought him to Winnipeg to see the Canadian Museum for Human Rights on our $10 bill.
It all started when Emaad Paracha was in his home country of Pakistan in 2015, and wanted to see the ruins depicted on a 20-rupee note. He posted a photo of the site online, and people loved it.
“I thought, hey might as well do it with the rest of the currency, and that’s how it sort of came about,” he said.
So far, Paracha has been to parts of the United States, Canada, United Arab Emirates, and other regions of Pakistan to photograph sites seen on different currencies. Because he now lives in Toronto, the Canadian Museum for Human Rights was an easy one to check off his list, he said.
He said he was able to book a flight on a low-cost carrier to come for a weekend.
“I found it [the museum] really cool especially when the tour guides inside they explained and they explained the whole meaning behind the architecture,” he said.
Other sites have been more challenging to get to and photograph. This summer, he spent two weeks hiking to K2, the second-highest mountain on earth, which is shown on Pakistan’s 50-rupee note.
“[There were] no phones, no nothing, just walking 30 kilometres a day, on mountains, just to be able to take that one picture. And that’s what I did this summer,” he said.
Paracha is a web designer, and says he’s able to afford his travels by planning ahead, looking for cheap flights, and traveling with friends who he can split the costs with.
For his next adventure, he said he’d like to go to Mexico. But his ultimate goal is to one day get to Russia to photograph buildings and landmarks on currency there.
You can find more photos of Paracha’s travels on his website.