Memory Card

A vintage camera museum in Gurgaon showcases rare cameras and pictures

Written by Prajakta Hebbar

New Delhi | August 2, 2012 06:55 AM IST

4 min read

A vintage camera museum in Gurgaon showcases rare cameras and pictures

No tickets are required to enter this museum; nor do metal detectors or grim-looking security guards greet you. Instead,Aditya Arya walks out to receive you like an old friend,escorts you to the basement of his house,in Gurgaons upmarket DLF Phase III,and welcomes you to his pet project the vintage camera museum.

The large,well-lit room almost transports you to India of the 40s. The walls of the temperature-controlled museum are adorned with rare pictures taken by Kulwant Roy,an independent photojournalist who worked closely with Indian politicians. And there are rows and rows of cameras,more than 300 of them,dating from the early 19th century studio specimens such as the 1860s wooden Thornton-Pickard to more recent Canon and Nikon SLRs and DSLRs. Arya also has a considerable collection of rare camera films/rolls,which he has procured from across the world,and Indias first 3D photographs,including a picture of young turbaned boys at the Golden Temple,Amritsar. To be viewed on a simple,light,wooden device called the Stereoscope,these pre-Independence pictures offer insights into the lives of Indians at the time,such as a photo of a group of weavers using the handloom.

Many people who write on photography seldom know the mechanics of photography. But how can one know the art without knowing the craft, says Arya,as he points towards a black-and-white photograph of Jawaharlal Nehru with Jacqueline Kennedy,taken when the Kennedys visited India in 1962. Compare that picture with portrait photographs taken in modern times, he asks. As we try to spot the difference,he walks over to one of the cupboards and takes out a camera. This is a Yashica Mat with a 120 mm twin lens reflex, he says,as he shows us an archaic box-shaped black camera. This used to be a favourite among the photojournalists of the time,as it was easy to carry. But look at the way it works, he says,demonstrating how to hold the camera near the chest and peer through the viewfinder on top. Today,we take pictures by holding the camera at the eye-level; and that is why the angle of the picture changes, he explains,showing us the same Nehru-Kennedy picture and comparing it with Roys more recent work.

What started as a collection of old photos passed on by a family friend has become a haunting obsession for Arya,who is also a trustee of the India Photo Archive Foundation. I have been lugging around the old yellow crates for years. They contain thousands of Roys photographs and his other memorabilia. I havent sorted through even half of them, he explains,adding that the motivation for the museum,which he began setting up in 2008,came from that. He hires interns to work in the museum,but does most of the work himself or with the help of his son. Aryas collection of Roys works documents many of Indias historic moments. For example,a photograph of Jawaharlal Nehru,Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan and Sardar Patel arriving for the 1945 Shimla conference on a hand-drawn carriage,is one of the rarer ones.

Arya says he takes visitors only by appointment because he likes to show them around himself. There are people who find this place very dry,and there are those who sit around for hours,looking through the photographs,reading up on the cameras.

I want this place to be a home for the latter, he says.

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Canon Kulwant Roy