Photographs tell history

Memories are an important part of all our lives. Old letters, photographs, and many other associations help us to recall our past and retrace our lost roots. One of the oldest ways to preserve our memories and culture has been through photos since 1839, a date generally accepted as the birth year of practical photography. We still go back to the first studio photographs to know about how our ancestors looked and what their culture was. Photographs bring history alive for people of all ages.

Revolving around this concept, a panel discussion on Documenting heritage around us by eminent photographers from the city Arvind Chenji, Ramana Bandi and Kishor Krishnamoothi was held on Saturday at the State Gallery of Art.

The discussion took off by showing several photos clicked around the city as part of a small competition for budding photographers, where various colourful facets of Hyderabad were captured. Monuments, people, lanes all together make a vibrant culturally rich city, felt the panelists and how important it was for the present generation to click pictures and preserve them not only digitally but also by taking printouts.

“I was once travelling around Telangana, where I suddenly came across our very own Stonehenge-like structures. Not many know of this place, but it is now well preserved in my photos,” said Arvind Chenji.

Our today can be someone’s past
Resonating on the value of clicking and creating memories and archiving photos carefully, Kishor Krishnamoorthi says, “As photographers we see photographs of popular monuments in the city like Golconda Fort, Charminar, Qutub Shahi Tombs, Mecca Masjid and many more other small yet relevant monuments like perhaps the Koti Residency. From dingy lanes to sophisticated skyscrapers, everything is part of our culture and heritage and it is our responsibility to do whatever we can to preserve them. One of the ways is to click and capture those through the lenses. But archiving is as important as clicking them. One has to remember our today will be someone’s past.”

For Ramana Bandi, documenting is all about visualisation. “The value of a photo is timeless even if all the technical aspects may not hit the right note. Years later all these not so perfect photos will tell history,” he says.

The discussion concluded with the panelists urging young photographers to grasp the storytelling aspect of pictures and create a beautiful bunch of memories for years to come.