Mr Pahari is a street photographer plying his trade - and what a trade it is - on the streets of Jaipur, a few dozen meters away from Hawa Mahal (also known as the Palace of the Winds). Armed with a camera built more than 100 years ago, a bucket of water and a piece of cloth in lieu of a backdrop, Mr Pahari shoots, develops and sells portraits of his clients and has been doing so for the past 30 years, just like his father and his father’s father before him. The portraits he takes are reminiscent of those images we see in museums only they feature us, dressed in our colourful, branded, every day t-shirts and shorts - a far departure from those elegant and timeless portraits of the late Victoria era. But Mr Pahari treats everyone with absolute politeness and professionalism - pretty much how I like to image those victorian photographers would do to their customers!
But I digress - this is not a history lesson. If anything, it’s a kind of completely unrealistic wishful thinking - if one can call it that. This is about Mr Pahari, an absolute treasure in today’s fast-food photography of Instagram, selfies and heavily photoshopped crap. It is about someone who actually loves photography for photography’s sake. Someone who likes taking photos of random strangers and then developing them under the most unimaginable conditions ever JUST because of the process, JUST to see them come up, almost as if by magic.
His boxy camera, patched, repaired and mended about a thousand times is not only the camera, but also development lab - something I had never seen before in my life and I very much doubt will ever see again. To be honest, I don’t know - and I don’t remember - what I was thinking when I sat down in front of the camera. I saw the lens - as you do - but I don’t think I ever wondered where he would develop the image. In retrospect, I was completely ignorant and stupid. Let me walk you through it and maybe you’ll understand.
Mr Pahari will set you up, adjust his focus - sometimes this involves moving the entire camera back and forth - and, once he feels the focus is there, will pop in his film cassette and retract the protector. Then he will wait a few moments until the light is just about right, tell you to freeze and then remove the lens cap for about 1-2 seconds. And that’s it. I swear, it expected to have to stand still for 10’’ or more, but it was over before I knew it. I’m telling you, only then did I realise I had briefly stopped breathing… funny, huh? Anyway…
It is only then that - for me at least - the magic begins. Mr Pahari’s hand will disappear inside the depths of the camera box and, entirely by touch, will remove the exposed frame from the cassette, feed it through the tiny slot at the back of the box into the tiny tray containing the developer fluid - no idea how he judges the time it takes - and once it is developed, places it - always by touch - to another tray containing the fixer liquid. Then, like a magician, he will pull out the picture and wash it in the bucket of water located right next to the camera.
Now, this image - and I admit I was surprised to see it - was not the final image. No. It’s a negative of the image. Mr Pahari will then remove a weird contraption you previously thought was a part of the camera box frame (but was really a remote photo frame stand), affix it right in front of the camera and place the negative on it. He will then proceed to repeat the entire process only this time, the negative is his subject and, of course, the resulting image will be the final positive! And all that in less than 10’!
The process perhaps seems convoluted to most of us but it is absolutely magical to witness - I could sit there seeing it again and again all day, testing different options, trying my hand at the process. The results seem extremely consistent (judging for the other images I saw Mr Pahari create) and all of them have that dreamy quality it takes most digital photographers a couple of hundred dollars and a couple of hours of work to imitate. Hardly seems worth the effort, right?
What makes Mr Pahari special is not the fact he’s the last of the original street photographers or that he’s using a 100-year old camera. It is his manner - his massive smile, his enthusiasm for what he’s doing, his willingness to show you the process and explain every single step, the way he seamlessly juggles processing with marketing and selling to passers-by and tourists, never missing a beat. He’s such a pleasure to watch and an honour to observe - miles different from any other street seller in India.
He has been featured in magazines and newspapers from all over the world but it’s usually either for the novelty or the nostalgia factor. But I feel he deserves more from the photographic community whose primal principles he still upholds. I hope - I pray in fact - that his passion will not fade and that he’ll find someone to take up the mantle when the time comes. I left him almost with tears in my eyes, wondering whether I would have the chance to see him again next time I passed by Jaipur, secretly fearing I won’t… let’s hope I’m wrong. I need to believe I’m wrong!
If you want to find him or get in touch, please do…his email is: tikamchand66@yahoo.in and he’s also on Facebook under www.facebook.com/theoldphotography. Oh, and guess what? He actually takes bookings online and, from what he told me, there are days when he’s sold out!!!