A Couple of days back while clearing my drawers of old and unwanted papers, I came across an old Driving License issued to me in the year 89. Safe in a transparent polyethene jacket frayed at the edges, its pages had yellowed and had turned brittle; long forgotten with the introduction of smart card ids. On turning the first page I discovered the old black and white photograph of mine smiling at me, almost telling me – Hi buddy, long time! You have grown old. Nostalgic, I chose to make it my DP in my Whatsapp account. That picture took me down memory lane reminding me of many incidents relating to a major event known as ‘Getting Photographed’. And I am sure each of you must have had such experiences also.
Till the advent of the digital camera and the ubiquitous phone camera, photography was essentially a rich man’s hobby. Very few had cameras or had relatives who had them. Few could afford to indulge themselves with the pride of dangling a hard leather cased boxy device around their neck during outdoor activities. Let’s not discuss that now. The other type of experience which almost each and every one of us must have had was getting photographed at ‘Studios’.
‘Studios’ were one of the standard fixtures of any urban habitation. Each bore similar look differentiated only by the type of photographs they displayed at their entrance. The older the Studio was, older were the photographs. The more pedigreed and accomplished the cameraman, more famous personalities adorned his walls. They were his diplomas on display. Studios like ‘Das & Das’ and Naidu’s in Cuttack were owners of such halls of fame. Their owners were well-known persons respected in the community because of their access to their skills and technology, few could understand. And maybe for their ability to freeze a moment for the posterity.
The studio photographs of that time were of certain fixed format depending on the person, time or event. If it’s a family photo, then you would find the wife sitting on a stool with one child on her lap and another by her side and her stunned husband standing behind both. If it’s the photo of your grandparents, then the husband would sit on an ornate chair with his wife behind him – shiny shoes and walking stick in place. If its friends, then both had to sit close by with the taller one putting his hand over the others shoulder. The most common of them was where the wife or husband would be made to sit together little staggered and look to the left or right looking at a far distant point in the horizon – as if looking at the sunset. More romantic couples could dare to take a photograph with the husband putting his hand on his wife’s shoulder.
The photographer had his standard syntax with regard to the position each hand has to take, the tilt of one’s head, the point to which the eyes have to be fixated, this not only instructed by the photographer but was sternly ensured. That perhaps says why there were very few photos where the objects smiled. Only in group photos of girls, where they were made to sit in formations you saw few smiling faces. Each studio had their standard background and props. “Ready One Two and” POP! The surrounding flashbulbs used to go off blinding the objects for few seconds and freezing the moment for posterity.
Such photography was necessitated by life events. Older parents were taken to be photographed well before one of them kicked the bucket. Married couples took their photos almost after a month of their marriage when the new bride would be allowed to set her feet out of her home. She then would send a copy to her parents to let them know that everything is well. Family photos were taken after their offspring reached a certain age. In between, friends used to have their photo jaunts either on festivals or when they wore new clothes. The two most popular days on which girls made a beeline to the studios were Raja or Kumar Purnima. It was not unusual to see all friends wearing similar dresses, made out of one bale of cloth. Such display of friendship or solidarity would evoke mirth and ridicule among the present generation. But then those were the days of group fun and simplicity. Closeness with a friend was displayed by holding each other’s hand while walking.
Those days as soon as one passed his school finals, he was expected to take out his passport-sized photo and get wads of it attested by a gazetted officers. Achievements like winning a trophy were diligently saved for posterity by being photographed with the trophy put on the prop by one's side. The importance of studio used to became more when the daughter reached the marriageable age, she would get dressed in a saree and a hill (to compensate her lack of height) and get chaperoned into a studio for what is now called Matrimonial Photo. Many marriages couldn’t materialise because of the photographer’s lack of skill and many grooms silently cursed the photographer for misleading them into agreeing for a face to face interview.
The narrative on studio photography will not be complete without mentioning the role of the touch-up artist whose job was to cover the flaws of the photography or the person. His job was to redraw the eyebrows and moustache to perfection and replant the missed Bindi and effect such many changes. His act can be best termed as the present day photo-shopping. Repeating the same act overall the number of prints ordered required enormous talent and patience. He also was the cause of many hilarious experiences. One of my friend who had a patchy pair of moustache was taken aback on discovering his well-grown pair in a matter of days since he got photographed. His adolescent profile couldn’t carry the weight of his military whiskers. Another who had a sty in his left eyes had to have another implanted on his right for symmetry. And a very modern short haired 'midi' wearing friend of mine was startled on seeing a Bindi wearing-avatar of her own self, shattering her own self-perception. But such was the magnitude of investment of effort behind each such photo event, that none had the courage to return back the photographs citing dissatisfaction.
The present day generation can’t fathom the effort and time which went into executing such event. Starting from turning out in your best clothes to matching it on the right event used get meticulously planned. A trip to the studio was coordinated and cost shared. The meticulous cost sharing on the basis of - equally dividing the cost of the shoot and individually paying on the basis of the number of copies ordered, would put the present day accountant to shame.
The selfie shooting youngsters don’t remember how many photos get shot and how many gets deleted, wilfully or accidently. The life of each digital snap ends when people stops ‘Liking’ it on their fb wall but these black and white photographs still adorn our walls and albums and continue to live on. Maybe the artistry of the photographer has succeeded in capturing that experience so well that it has turned that moment into a ‘Milestone’ in our lives.
It saddens me when I realised that we are never going to hear one wide-eyed and excited girl suggesting to her group “This Raja, all of us, let’s get photographed”.
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