The Hindu Business Line : Holding a moment...

Recalling the history of photography is always of interest to me. Made more so now after a recent visit to Australia where a photograph is a much sought after collector's treasure. A five-figure sum is the return for a good picture!

Way back in the 1840s, the new visual medium photography caused enough controversy by challenging drawing and painting as a way to record life. Forty years later, romantic illustrations, made possible in England, took photography in a painterly direction. Much changed in the 20th century for the medium both in terms of technology and acceptance. Acceptance by all that photography was indeed the best way to document, record event and history.

The camera also proved in the hands of many a great photographer that a picture was as good as a canvas. This is still questioned by many and more so in the developing countries. A bit Victorian is a mild statement for such attitudes.

Many decades of being with the camera and I am happy that this togetherness has resulted in many a satisfying visual essay.

In Sydney, just a week before our departure, I came across Wealth, a supplement in the business section of the national daily — The Australian. Making me sit up and take notice was this page with a big headline: `Photography gets the right exposure/Camera images snap at the heels of paintings and antiques'.

Reading the article, one learnt that contemporary photography, while missing out on the big auction hype used for paintings and antiques, has a big market in Australia. Ten years ago it started happening and Wealth tells us that though photographic works are still to catch up with the six-figure prices achieved by paintings and other normally accepted art forms it will do so very soon. Right now a good photograph could get almost A$20,000, but the price tag could go up by three-four times for exceptionally good photographs! And for those that are just starting to sell, there are plenty of opportunities in the $500-5,000 range through the galleries.

In investment circles, though, photographs have long been a blue-chip item, arguably more sophisticated than the mainstream art market, eminently more affordable and with an international element making overseas trading accessible and profitable. For me at least, it was a much satisfying bit of news from the supplement.

Some of the photographs accompanying the article were brilliant. A compelling thought... wish I had taken some of my pictures along. No, it was not just the money, but also to see how they would have been received.

Back in Bangalore and I am happy talking to a couple of young photographers at The Hindu office. Talk at length about interpretative documentation. This is their medium, true. And their profession too. But what a job! To look at the universe, people and those absorbing moments. Register, hold; make them belong, I tell them.

Did I talk about a moment? It created itself one morning soon. And in my own home. A flower arrangement, gifted by a well-wisher stood in a corner. Made of paper/plastic, I guess with reason I had placed it there. And that morning while dusting the room I suddenly noticed a spot of sunlight filtering through the windows. And the rays highlighted the grass amidst those flowers. The visual fascinated me. It had drama and a vibrant intensity. The grass and the flowers and the structure of light had the camera rushing to my hands. The grass had a tinge of red. Spreading warmth of a winter sun.

Was it imagination? ... I felt the room was filled with fragrance.

Wealth? Yes. So it was and so it is.

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