While going through the albums, I thought of the past, when my nephew and I took lots of photographs on many a visit. Time flies, but photographs take us to the glorious past. In the photographs, I had lots of hair on my head, which is scanty now, with years passing by, and my nephew, who was a young lad then, now has grown into a strong young man. While going through the albums, I could recollect the time gone by, and my thoughts went to the street photographers in the pre-mobile days.
With advanced technology and smartphones in every hand, my heart went out to those photographers who used to make a living.
It was a very common sight at monuments, places of visits at important places and while on tours to find photographers with a camera around their neck and a photo album in their hands exhibiting their talent and requesting photographs of visitors that would be delivered instantly after clicking; at times, the copies would be sent to the address given by the customers.
There would be many such photographers, if there were bigger crowds. The more the visitors, the more such photographers would be seen. All for a reasonable cost, at affordable rates, which visitors would not hesitate to spend, for it would be full of fond memories and recollection of the time gone by. These photographers would make a little livelihood for their hard work all through the day out in the open. Their livelihood is slowly and steadily being snatched away by the small but powerful cameras that is embedded in the phones.
With a smartphone almost in every hand and its simple methods with camera, . With advanced features, the zoom and flash along with other facilities, photography, once a professional forte, doesn’t require great skills now. The delete facility helps a lot in deleting photographs that are not captured well. Videography provides the facility for live recording that is one step ahead of still photographs; it captures moments live and naturally.
Where does this leave the mobile photographers? With few takers, earnings would take a hit and so are their livelihoods. Times change, changes are constant, what’s new today would be old tomorrow, that’s the law of nature. The street photographers must be few and far between today, but in the journey of life, they are remembered, when we glance at the albums.
All is not lost, for no weddings are held without a photographer and his camera.
balasubramaniampavani@gmail.com
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