PHOTOGRAPHY -20

 PHOTOGRAPHY -20

Let me make it clear that my ideas are out of place in digital era , where Gadgets mean more than skill; that is , if properly set , the camera and its memory pack together take care of picture requirements of making a clear image store from where images are ‘printed out’ through a dedicated printing system. Without fatiguing in a dark chamber for making prints, technicians stay in comfort of  well-lit ambience to evaluate the registered image for details and use   the computer-aided colour-coding system to enhance or subdue skin tones of persons , pep up the richness of attire and so on to deliver ‘acceptable’ pictures through computer-aided image modification.             Even more baffling [at least for dark room savvy technicians like me], even image perspectives are amended to make a brilliant [serious?] correction for object placements to subdue suggestions of competition between elements in a picture. Most corrections are easily accomplished by using grids [chequered lines] meant for individual features like density, colour correction, enhancing or downsizing brightness by a chosen move of the cursor over the image area ; this renders a progressive correction + or – helping us to decide the best-fit alteration. Having been in to it for a time, technicians quickly fx the values and make prints in a minute or less based on the extent of correction.

With so much gadget based facility , all brilliant men [and a few women too ] despite their human  skills had to wind up their printing houses / processing facilities and settle for running teashops or small time eateries making ‘vadais’/ ‘bondos’ and such iems. Already with domestic support these men and women were familiar with such evening snacks. I feel really hurt to recall the fate of some brilliant workers  Mr. Kandaswami [of Bharath Potos], Mr. Lakshmanan [Asoka studios], Mr. John [ Thangam studios], Mr. Manian [British camera house], Ms Selvi [Aadhavan studio lab] just to name a few from Madurai alone .[Should have been so elsewhere as wel]l. Just recall the outright elimination of SOME MEGA ESTABLISHMENTS OF CHENNAI, M/S GK Vale, Ms Klein and Peyerl [ both from Mount Road] Ms Cherian Brothers [Pondy bazaar]; these were once formidable names in the trade and who had an unceremonious exit from the trade because most of them –nearly all of them were engaging manual skill , crushed by machine-based work. Not only that,  a number of related functions like Sale of films, Printing papers, processing chemicals, Albums and a range of items for user consumption have vanished. It hardly took 4 or 5 years to spell doom for the whole trade . Millions of film cameras held in global esteem are idling  for want of work.  It is not my intention to detract the merits of technology, but a whole body of human skill was bundled out is a painful recall to say the least.

Times were when people moved dow to Madras [Chennai] to have their portrait done by M/S GK VALE . Even to-day across the education institutions of the state one can find majestic portraits of veteran Academicians[ done at GK VALE] who brought laurels to their respective institutions.  Alas, such quality portraits are conspicuous by absence to-day.

More to follow. K.Raman