`My Coffee- table Travelogue’

We all have yesteryears’ family photos that we treasure greatly. For many of us, these photos mostly lay forgotten in albums until, once in a while, we are reminded of them, either by an old friend or by an overwhelming memory of an event from the days gone by. As reassuring as it was to have all my photo albums stacked neatly in one place, I thought that my vast collection deserved a better place in my life. Let me share with you some ideas on recycling old print photos and making them more accessible to those who matter to us.

My association with photography goes back to my school and college days. I always found myself drawn to the idea of clicking photos and getting clicked. That photography was a `hobby’ of mine, is a realisation that dawned upon me much later in my life. In retrospect, this realisation explains a strange childhood habit of mine; when my siblings would spend their pocket money on buying gifts for visiting nephews and nieces during their summer vacations, I would hold on to my savings until the perfect summer noon arrived; then I would quietly slip out of the house with the little ones and take them to a small studio in our neighbourhood to get them photographed. Why this stealth, you would ask? When the temp. would be above 40oC, everyone else in the house would be enjoying their afternoon siesta, leaving me with an unrefuted freedom of movement. If my intentions were to be discovered, I knew, there would be resistance to the idea. In 1970s getting photographed was considered a luxury in a middle class home.

People would go to a studio only for strict purposes-- for a passport/Id card, or if it were a marriageable girl, to obtain photos that would be fit to send to the prospective groom’s family, or even rarer, in the case of some ‘modern’ parents, to capture their son’s image on his first birthday. In any case, the expectations were high from the photographer for the simple reason that everyone wants to look better in one’s photo. The expectations were even higher on the second case as every girl’s parents would want their daughter to appear `fair, tall, sharp-featured and well-disposed’, in her photo at least.  With little advancement in trick photography, it used to be a bigger challenge for the photographer and in some cases, an impossible task. Knowing well that nothing ruins a business like an unhappy customer, an experienced and smart photographer would even turn the subject away on some flimsy excuse if the girl was incurably plain. The risk was not so high in the third category, as a child, that too a son was to his parents their best creation on earth; how could any image of their son not warm their hearts?

My yearly visits to that lone studio in my neighbourhood, helped establish a good rapport with the studio owner. Then came the era of coloured photos and I was irresistibly impressed by this invention. Initially, it was not in the printing and developing that the change occurred, rather, the photographer coloured the photograph post-development, not unlike a painter. I too wanted one of my nephew’s pictures to be coloured but the price was simply unaffordable. Undaunted, I dared to paint one of the black and white photos myself equipped merely with a prior interest in drawing and painting. The result, in my opinion, was quite encouraging. I couldn’t wait to show my handiwork to my friend, the the studio uncle and till today I remember the surprised and appreciative look on his face.

Seeing my interest in the photography, one of my brothers-in-law voluntarily parted with his box-camera. I took the gesture in a big way and participated in ‘Photo Exhibition Competition’, organized in my college, and submitted my entire collection of photographs. I won a consolation prize, not for the quality of photography but for the highest number of the entries made by a single contestant!

To keep up with the rapid pace of technology, I kept upgrading my camera --- a Kodak box-camera to Isoly II to National auto-click, and with age, my subjects changed as well. From cousins, nieces and nephews in the family, my camera had now shifted focus to my own lovely (no photography trick here) daughters, family, friends, parties and travel.

Then came the digital camera, and this caused a major setback to my interest in photography. Perhaps, it was the ease that digital photography lent to this activity. Where was the fun and challenge of good photography, I thought. More importantly, the thought of parting with my dearest and highly advanced Nikon SLR, which was surely to become obsolete soon, was unbearable. I resisted the situation as long as possible and seeing my dilemma, one fine day, my just-married daughter and son-in-law gifted, rather, forced upon me, a digital camera. After using the camera for some time, I became even more possessive about my collection of old print photos as I realized that the advent of the digital age spelled doom for the art of print photography. With this began my exercise of rearranging and reusing photos in an attempt to save them for posterity.

collage for my home

Collage for my daughter

 With the help of my daughter,I got all the photos scanned. With all the photos secured so, I was free to use the prints the way I wanted to. First of all, I segregated the pics to make three collages, one each for my two daughters and one for my own house. The choice of pics for each collage was easy to make as the aim was to capture occasions, people and places that were landmarks in the life of the person in question. The final results were truly amazing, and together with their immense sentimental value, they made great surprise-gifts for both my daughters.

 Then came the idea of recycling my travel pictures, of both long tours with family and weekend-getaways with friends. These photos always got my friends nostalgic and I wanted them all in one place. I decided to make a coffee-table book or `my coffee-table travelogue’ as I call it. It is basically an album. I have arranged the pics in a chronological order in collage-form on individual sheets with small foot-notes. Arranging pics this way made the album more interesting to see and saved the bulk of multiple albums. There are 3-4 types of albums available in the market. I used a loose one in which additional sheets can be added, if need be. The sheet has a self-adhesive surface, where you can stick the chosen photos. When the page is ready, there is a thin transparent film that you must place on the photograph-laden page. This step requires extreme care as you need to press this film from one end to another avoiding air bubbles and creasing. It is a tricky thing but not impossible. The result is there before you to see.

Coffee-table book when open

My Coffee-table Travelogue