A photographer is busy rushing from one hardware shop to another wood ware shop. He is busy selecting the color of sun mica for his desk table, looking for fancy lights, ordering for “glass sheets”, and picking up beautiful exterior frames. Refusing one, selecting other he is trying to design the “look” of his photo studio shop. Located amid the shops made out of straw roofs, tin shed, mud walls and bamboo poles, photographer’s shop stands apart not only in terms of “look” but also in profession. His competition with others is not about profession but about survival. As he is going to be the one and only photo studio owner in farukhnagar. His competitors are tea sellers, grocery shop owner, cloth vendors and tailors. They are not only critical of his profession but also tease him by inquiring about his plans of shutting the shop and leaving the town. He and his studio just doesn’t fit in the frame of this small town. This not only determines him for giving a modern get up to his shop but also to set the trend of photography in the town. He does so by cycling from one village to another advertising for his shop by putting self painted boards all over and rewarding his reluctant customers by clicking their free photographs during initial days. He edited people’s photograph by working with the needle like pencil on negatives and removed the scars, wrinkle and unwanted marks from their faces. Making them believe in the beauty of getting photographed. His skills of photography astonished people and encouraged them to capture their life’s moments on camera lens freezing into undying memory. After listening to the experiences of Mr Verma , the photographer I realized establishing a photo studio in farukhnagar is not unique but an interesting phenomenon too. 
1 comment:
"Verma ji Ka Photo Studio" opens up a different image altogether of Farukhnagar. It takes us through its pictures to the time which is lying buried under the pile of changing moments. The pictures are of great help to understand the process of urbanisation Farukhnagar has gone through. I would like to put it this way that more than mesmerising these pictures reveal the transitions Farukhnagar as a Kasba(town) gone through. Although Mr. Verma has to go through the initial phase of severe struggle, his conviction ultimately makes him the winner. And his accolades are his pictorial records of Farukhnagar which will always be of great interest for the visitors of this blog.
Thanks Sameena for compiling these records so meticulously. They have taken me to a forgotten world which is unforgetable.
Warm Regards
Vikram
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