Life on a Roll

The collection includes almost all types of cameras made so far. After my father passed away in 1953,I took over his photo studio,and began collecting cameras, says 80-year-old Sheikh,who served as the official photographer of the Indian Army,and the governors of Maharashtra.

Sheikhs home is testimony to his passion. A 35-mm cinematography projector welcomes you at the door,and then you walk in to a world of cameras,and witness their evolution from the oldest camera series called Novelty,which was made 200 years ago,to the latest DSLRs,from cameras made of cardboard and wood to the metallic models of today. The oldest in his collection,a Novelty camera,for instance,did not work on rolls but thin metal plates called film packs and could shoot six pictures at a time. Later,it could click 15 photos, says Sheikh.

He also has a series of 150-year-old Kodak cardboard box cameras,which had one viewfinder and thus could take only vertical pictures. Then,theres the long-running popular series,Kodak Baby Brownie,inexpensive cameras launched by Eastman Kodak in 1900,which were the first to position a shutter on the upper part of the camera body. The camera had an open viewfinder,and since the shutter was located below the lens,every time a photo was clicked,the frame and the view wouldnt match. In 1947,the model 127 Baby Brownie solved this problem. Its shutter was placed on the upper side of the camera. All modern cameras have this technology, he says.

Other rare possessions include miniature cameras (1885),the first self-timer camera (1945),spy cameras (1938),a gun camera (1920),a vest pocket camera (1914),stamp camera (1910),etc. Showing a spy camera he bought from Hong Kong,he says,It was used during World War I. It came with a vacuum ball that could be kept inside the pocket. The tiny camera could be fixed to the necktie. One could click a photo by pressing the vacuum ball in the pocket.

Each camera in Sheikhs museum has a story. For instance,to collect a Novelty camera from a schoolteacher in Kolhapur,he spent a night at a bus stop. I visited his house five times in one day but he was not at home. When I finally met him the next day,he reluctantly agreed to sell the camera to me for Rs 900,a huge amount since I earned about Rs 3,500 a month at that time, says Sheikh. The highest amount he has paid so far for a camera is Rs 6 lakh for a Rollei SLR 8008,bought from Sri Lanka in 1991. By that time,I had established myself and the amount didnt pinch, he says.

In 1990,when he and his wife were holidaying in Bangkok,they had enough money to only pay for their accommodation and food. But Sheikh couldnt resist buying a Hasselblad 500 camera. Since we were not left with any cash,we didnt eat that night. Of course,the next day,our sons had arranged the money, he says.

Sheikhs son,Zakir,helps maintain the museum,that doesnt charge an entry fee. These days,I am busy collecting digital cameras, he says.