R. Selvam’s passion for photography is no big surprise for he was born in his father’s photo studio and his toys were vintage cameras. Then, residence and workplace was one. Now Selvam has more than 100 vintage cameras in his collection -- from century old glass plate field camera to the Paillard Bolex video camera and flash guns.
He fell for the passion nurtured by his father Su. Rajan, who was a photographer and a painter, and it is still going strong in him. “My father introduced me to photography. He gave me an amateur Agfa camera and asked me to shoot when I was in primary school. At that time photography was an expensive hobby and he did not load films. Instead, he loaded bromide paper and asked me to capture images. I did not realise it was for practice and to sharpen my skills. I turned a pro by the time I was in class VII and went for outdoor photography during holidays and vacations. After school, I would assist my father in the developing and printing work,” he says.
His father set up a day light studio in Natham as there used to be no electricity. “The open courtyard at the centre of the house (mutram) was the main studio hall. The ceiling would be covered with ground glass for penetration of light and big groups of people came to our house to take photographs only between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m.,” he says.
For developing and processing his father took the films to a lab in Singapunari where he was a partner. By the time Selvam grew up, Natham got electricity and the family had set up a lab in the house.
Selvam had a playful start to his career as he wasted a lot of flash bulbs, which were very expensive then. He was so familiar with the camera operation that his father gifted him Rolliflex camera for his outdoor assignments. “Then Rolliflex was a dream camera for the photographers. Only few owned it. Then I did not realise its importance. But I felt very proud to be called a photographer for there was a lot of respect for them in the field. That was the time when people had to wait for us and moved according to our directions,” he says.
Though he was inducted early into the profession, he realised the significance of preserving cameras only when he crossed teenage. “I learnt the art quite early. I also serviced cameras in my possession and started collecting cameras. As a first step, I decided never to sell my old cameras and serviced them all to make them usable. Even today these cameras are operational, only problem is that films are not available any more in the market,” he says.
Every camera in his possession has an interesting story behind. “Luckily that was the period, when studio owners started selling old cameras fearing poor resale value. Once I heard from a source that a person in Moore Market in Chennai was selling his post card film camera, which was more than 100 years old. I rushed to the market and waited there for hours together only to see the bellows of the camera in damaged condition. Though he demanded more money, I bought it,” he says.
He went to Palakkad to collect an old Brownie Junior (card board) camera which was as old as the post card film camera. He has spent a fortune on these cameras and 52-year-old Selvam’s only aim now is to set up a museum and properly display his vintage collections.
The Madurai Photo Studio Association, of which Selvam is a treasurer, regularly organises photography classes for aspiring photographers.
VINTAGE COLLECTIONS:
Glass Plate Negative Field Camera: The camera has big lens in front with bellows. Chemical coated glass plates are used as negative and the camera was primarily used to shoot group photos.
Brownie Junior: Camera made of card board and was one of the first in compact camera series
Graflex: It is a single lens camera and was exclusively made for press photographers to capture fast moving objects. It has 1/400 shutter speed.
Rolliflex 120, Mamiya C330, Yashica and Minolta: Twin lens cameras (one lens for viewing and another for take).
Bronica: Popular camera to come out in the series of Single Reflex Lens cameras
Paillard Bolex: Compact video camera which is more than 70 years old.
