CAMERA IYER : THE MAN MARRIED WITH CAMERA

Camera Iyer

t h e m a n m a r r i e d t o c a m e r a

s.salimkumar interviewing CAMERA IYER

(photoes by S.V.ASOKAN)

He says “Don’t write the name, just put the (poonool) sacred thread to the camera and anybody can read it as Camera Iyer “ .

Camera Iyer, the nomadic chronic bachelor who is married to the camera only. Bangaloreans know Camera Iyer since decades. His real name (which nobody knows is P.V.Gopala Krishnan. Born on 2.5.1935 at Puthukkod Kizhakkegramam of Palkkad district of Kerala to Vaidyanatha Iyer and Rajalakshmi, he came to Bangalore in 1970 from Madras.

At the age of 10 his father expired. When he was fifteen, he went to Bhavani at Erode. He was then working in a hotel run by a relative. As the relative of the shop owner the employees considered him specially. He got plenty of Mysore Pak and Jilebi to eat and did just supervision of the shop.

Every day he used to visit Sangameshwar the famous pilgrim centre of Bhavani. He worked there 3 years . One of his uncles has told him, only your body is growing not the mind , so leave this place and come with me. Gopalakrishnan went with that uncle to Ootty.

Gopala Krishnan worked in the textile shop of his uncle who presented him a Camera, an Agfa Isolette. That was a basic camera. Iyer took photographs of whatever he saw and gave it to a studio owned by an Englishman for developing. 8 annas were the developing charge. Film charge is 4 annas. The Englishman displayed Iyer’s photos in the studio showcase.

One day a man enquired about these photos and he purchased some and paid Rs 10 for the little photographer. Which was a huge amount for him. And for the surprise of Gopalakrishnan, those photos appeared in a Tamil news paper named “Nam Cheithi.” (Our News). The person who purchased the photos was owner of that paper. He encouraged the little photographer by buying more photographs.

At that time one news paper named “Nava India “ was started from Coimbatore by a congressman. Editor of Nam Cheithi joined as the sub-editor of Nav India. He recommended to his boss that one boy is at Ootty who can take good photographs.

Iyer was summoned to Coimbatore and made photographer in Nav India. They provided him with a Rollyflex Camera. But the problem was that film rolls were not available. Another Iyer the Chief Correspondent of Nava India took him to Roxy Studio and arranged for some film rolls. Thus the shortage of film was solved.

Everyday 3 ot 4 photographs taken by Iyer appeared in Nava India which were appreciated by the readers and other papers. At that time Swadesha Mitran was the only news paper which publish news photos. People started to purchase Nav India only to see the photographs related to the news in their locality.

Once Jawaharlal Nehru visited Coimbatore. Iyer captured some action pictures of Nehru and published . He got fame with that photos, as action pictures were not published in other papers. He was appointed as the official photographer of Nav India with a salary of Rs 150 which was enough for purchasing acres of land at that time. 14 months he worked for Nava India. This young photographer was a hero of newspaper readers of Coimbatore and surroundings .He worked with Nava India for 14 months.

Iyer had two sisters, one elder and other younger. His elder sister was 5 years older than him. Her marriage was fixed and Iyer went to his native place. During that period he was suffering with continuous head ache. He had no courage to go anywhere and affected with some fear factors. He left the job and went to his village.

After elder sister’s marriage, he stayed with his mother and younger sister. He had to look after them. He decided to start a source of income. He purchased some old typewriters and started a typewriting institute at Alathur, Palakkad. One government employee was the tutor. After three years Iyer hated that life of repeating routine and decided to take Sanyasam.

He told everybody that in search of job he is going to Chennai but he went to the Himalayas. 3 months he wandered at Himalayas, in Kedarnath, Badarinath and the entire Ganga basin. After nomadic life of some months he returned to the native place.

Iyer did a lot of sundry jobs, and finally bought another camera, this time a Canon Canonet. Wherever he go the camera was with him. But income from photography was not sufficie nt for the expenses.

He went to Madras and joined at Binny Mills as a clerk in their steamer department. After leaving there he worked as a storekeeper with ECC , a construction company. Again he left the job and conducted a canteen at Thambaram railway station. Always he was married to photography and number of photos in his collection was increasing day by day.

Gradually he started to cover every type of function from which he can survivor well. In 1977 he joined with Kaveri Water Project. In 1981 his contract with them matured and he left. After that he didn’t join for any job.

When cameras were not working , he himself tried to repair. Then sold it. Again purchase cameras and so on his friendship with camera continued. He became an expert in everything related to lense and camera. He can repair the oldest box camera to the most modern digital camera. Thus he became an authority of camera. Friends , relatives and customers called him Camera Iyer.

He is the family photographer of many rich and aristocratic people of Bangalore. And work for some companies, and Government Institutions such as reserve Bank of India etc.

He is well versed in all the branches of photography. He begins his day with two idlis and one coffee and proceeds for the destinations known or unknown. Nan oru thanimaram. Thanimaram thoappaavillai ( I am a single tree. Single tree cannot be a garden).

Iyer says.Don’t be a burden to others. Work hard and save. Yaathum Oore, Yaavarin Keleer ( All places are ours, all are our relatives).

Iyer had sold numerous photographs to many individuals, publications and agencies. He has covered almost all the wild life sanctuaries of south India. Many times Iyer and friends got into trouble while facing the beasts. Iyer has taken thousands of photographs of elephants.

He was lucky to associate with world famous wild life photographers like E.Hanumantha Rao. Iyer visited various wild life sanctuaries with Rao more than twenty times. It can was an experience that never be forgotten.

Now also he use to visit Bandipur, Muthumala, Thekkadi, Ranganathitta, Kokkarabellur etc during the seasons and non seasons. He visited almost all the famous temples of North India and have a good collection of photos of that monuments. .

His first cameras were of 120mm. After that he changed to 35mm. Now he uses a modern digital camera. If a new model comes to the market this camera wizard pick it up that and uses till the new model comes.

After digital photography came, his profession is not so much charming because now a days the photographs are more technical than creative. Everybody knows to take photographs and the technology corrects each and every error.

Iyer is omnipresent at the hub of the city MG Road. He is available in and around the coffee house when he is free. But he don’t have any time table, as he is the enemy of timetables. But he believe in time, the omnipotent.

“As per astrology I have sanyasayoga my planetary position is Rahu at 8th house, which means no rebirth and thus I have to suffer everything in this lifetime.” Iyer says and vanished in the crowd, as he got an assignment in the phone. Contact Camera iyer @ Mobile # 09448014892

Article By

S.SALIM KUMAR