Whats in a frame?

In this age of digitally altered photographs remember how the Situation Room image was endlessly and playfully changed this is one curious instance when the original integrity of the photograph had its moment. You were either there or not before the camera and nothing could be done to alter that reality. It was the momentary capitulation of Photoshop.

That,indeed,was the primary mandate of the photograph to capture people and places as they are. One of the favourite subjects,then as now,were the rulers. Soon after the announcement of the first daguerreotype in Paris in 1839,photography arrived in India and court photographers like Raja Deen Dayal ruled with their splendid portraiture. However,photographys intent of realism was soon lost. Felice A. Beato is said to have rearranged the skeletons in the Secundra Bagh palace courtyard,after the 1857 Revolt,to heighten the drama of the scene. Now in this democratised world of photography,where Beatos successors have fun,where camera is an addendum of a cell phone,the Parliament photo its associated ceremonies and almost forgotten emotional associations is a pleasant frame.