A body camera, which was once the only instrument to take group photos, still adorn Reji’s studio at Kattappana in Idukki.
In fact, Reji T.C., a pioneer in photography in the High Ranges, has preserved all the cameras he used. The instruments will help photography enthusiasts study the transition from black and white to colour photography to the latest digital variants.
A ‘monopolist’
Reji got into photography at a very young age. He purchased the body camera in the 1970s. It sports a Made in India tag along with an etching ‘Vageeswari Camera Works, Mullackal, Alleppey’ on its woodwork.
“This was handmade by Chellappanchettan and he was the sole maker and supplier of body camera in the entire State,” says Reji.
During those days it was the cameraman who controlled and the light into the camera, something which the instrument does by itself now. To take a group photo, the photographer had to control not only the light but also the subjects.
“Even a slight movement of the person or the camera is reflected in the photo and the photographer is blamed for that,” says Reji.
“In the digital world you have absolute freedom. You just click and the camera does the rest,” he says. Reji also has a large collection of lenses used in the bygone era. He plans to open a museum of yesteryear cameras at Kattappana so that the youth would have an idea of the profession’s past.
He says the digital era in photography was born when film photography was in an advanced stage of high resolution film and even a speeding object could easily be framed.
Many photographers considered digital photography inferior and were slow in shifting to it.
However, things changed very fast and digital photography came to be widely accepted.
However, had films and dark room materials been available, Reji says he would still have used film photography and experimented with SLR cameras.
His two children Anandu Reji and Amal Reji and wife Sindu are also photographers.
