BackA shift in focus for the photography business
Capital Photo Studio is a sprawling set-uphard to believe then that when Shyam Singh Ahuja took over in early 1960s, it was a 500 square feet shop
PremiumLakhwinder Singh Ahuja and his father Shyam Singh Ahuja are bent over a table, poring over a bunch of cameras—ranging from a Kodak baby brownie to an old-fashioned tailboard and even a Zork 1.
The cameras have been fished out to cap a discussion about the evolution of the camera—between them the Ahujas have more than five decades of experience in photography.
The Ahujas run one of the older photo studios in Amritsar’s famed Hall Bazaar.
Their Capital Photo Studio is a sprawling set-up—hard to believe then that when Shyam Singh Ahuja took over the business from his father in the early 1960s, it was a mere 500 sq.ft shop.
“Photography was either for official work or special occasions. People would come in their Sunday best, especially if it was a newly married couple or a family portrait. Sometimes, for official snaps, I would send back people asking them to shave or comb their hair properly," says Shyam Singh Ahuja.
Those were the days of “notified goods" and limited supply. So, the film rolls had to be accounted for and paperwork maintained on the off-chance that someone from the licensing department might decide to drop in and carry out an inventory.
Not many people owned a camera, which invited a duty as high as 320%. One’s best hope of getting a camera, especially a fancy one, was the black market.
“South East Asia was the hub from where cameras were smuggled in. If a video camera’s market cost was ₹ 100,000 then the going price for it in the black market was ₹ 300,000," recalls Lakhwinder, who remembers stocking up on film rolls for the wedding season.
This was the time when only Fuji and Kodak rolls were in the market.
The fortunes of the Singh family started picking up in the 1980s as wedding videography and photography took off, even though militancy was at its peak in Punjab.
Lakhwinder first got his taste of just how important his job was following a bomb blast in Batala. “We had gone to shoot a wedding and because of the bomb, a curfew was declared. The wedding procession finally got passes for 10 people to travel to the bride’s village. Three out of those 10 were me and my photographers. The groom flat out declared that other family members can sit out the ceremony but we needed to be there."
For the Ahujas, the years following economic reforms in 1991 were brought not only the removal of restrictions but also an explosion in technology.
“When digital cameras first entered the market, few people anticipated the change they heralded. We stocked a few pieces, as well as data cards," Lakhvinder says. The real game changers, however, have been camera phones. “Everyone is now a photographer," laughs Shyam Singh.
Digital photography has also spurred the growth of photography as a hobby with more and more amateur photographers now looking at digital Single Lens Reflex (SLR) cameras.
“Well, one has had to adapt and change with time. We saw which way the wind was blowing early on and changed our business strategies accordingly. We own a few colour labs now and our wedding photography business has evolved into the more stylized, westernised version that is all the trend these days. This includes candid photography, pre-wedding shoots, etc," says Lakhwinder, fishing out the wedding albums that he produces. Each resembles a high-end coffee table book.
Ahuja Sr. has one regret. “India has never been able to come up with one camera or one photography innovation. We only remain consumers and follow what the world puts out. I wish we had come up with at least one indigenous camera," says Shyam Singh.
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