Having spent about 20 years of his life collecting different old and vintage cameras from across the world, Dr AV Arun, a dentist, and former secretary of the Indian Orthodontic Society, has set up a camera museum on the highway in Kovalam, ECR.
With more than 1,500 cameras of different types, sizes and forms from across the globe, Arun couldn’t fit it all at his house and that is when he set up the museum! The museum keeps the visitors engaged for a good couple of hours.
The vintage collection is sorted according to their time periods forming a history timeline of the cameras from the 1870s. Recollecting on how he collected the pieces, Arun shares, “I travelled and bought cameras from Agra, Jaipur, Kashmir and sometimes from the flea markets when I went to different cities for dentistry conferences and sometimes on roadside platforms.”
He adds, “The most memorable camera I bought was from an old lady, who lived in T Nagar. She had a twin lens Yashica B vintage model’s grey edition. It was carefully wrapped and fully new. She kept it in the memory of her husband, who gifted it when he proposed to her! She felt that it needed preservation and gave it off to me. It is a very special camera in my collection and likewise, every camera has a story behind it!”
Talking about choosing Kovalam as the location for the museum, he reveals, “The road welcomes hundreds of passengers everyday and everyone is new. We also have the easy reach of the expat crowd as it is near to DakshinaChitra and the Crocodile Bank. Foreigners, who come to conduct research studies about the history of cameras, spend more than two days with the cameras reading the books provided, learning about the functioning of the vintage cameras and sometimes just studying the models.”
The museum is fully air conditioned and has the interiors set in such a way that not much dust enters and there is illumination right beneath or near each camera to give it an attractive look.
The highlight of the museum is the rare Hughton London made 1900 camera, which is eight foot long and five foot tall. There are many extra large process cameras, aging for more than a few decades which may not be found anywhere in the country. Cameras used by the Air Force of different countries during World War 2, never fails to gather the crowd.
A self taught photographer himself, with excessive interest in wildlife photography, Dr Arun conducts regular photography classes for school children, Visual Communication students, apart from workshops in different institutions. “I am popularly known for my passion in camera than my career as a dentist! Although the museum is not exactly a financially viable option, there is a sense of satisfaction that my work is being recognised across the globe. I get calls from photography enthusiasts from all over the world and it makes me proud. Also, when the visitors recollect nostalgic moments of their lives — like remembering their grandpa, who once had a camera like that and reliving the past; it just feels great to have triggered that memory!”
Arun also looks forward to take school children on photo walks in ECR and also train them on how to shoot with vintage cameras soon.
