Karnataka - Mysore   

Down memory lane with Satyan

R. Krishna Kumar

T.S. Satyan

MYSORE: In the early 1930s, two students vied with one another to experiment with what was a sheer novelty in those days — to take photographs — and slugged it out, like most schoolboys do, to take control of any object of intrigue; in this case, a box camera.

But having pooled their resources to raise a few paisa - a fortune in those days — to buy a roll of black and white film containing eight frames, it was decided that the two will share an equal number of frames and each shot four pictures of his liking.

But another dispute arose as to where they will get it developed. "Wisdom" prevailed and the two arrived at a consensus that each will get it developed at a studio of his choice. So the film was taken out and cut into two and handed over for "development and printing". But the photographers were told that the film is sensitive to light and cannot be developed and hence they have to start all over again. Thus began the illustrious career in photography of T.S. Satyan who was a protagonist in the "doomed experiment" of the two boys. Narrating this anecdote, Mr. Satyan compressed his eventful career as a photojournalist interacted with the students of mass communication in Mysore on Friday.

The interaction programme was organised by the Karnataka Madhyama Academy and the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, and as Mr.Satyan continued his narration, it brought alive the images of the past as visualised and "freeze-framed" by the ace photographer. While the issues pertaining to ethics in in the field that were dealt at length may be bypassed, the anecdotes captured the essence of a bygone era.

For instance, Mr. Satyan's efforts to document the Mahamastakasbhisheka at Shravanabelagola in 1952 with a broken camera caught the attention of James Burke of Life Magazine, who gave a pep talk to the youngster, is interesting. But Mr. Burke, who was shooting in colour — and it required two weeks to develop colour prints in those days — was pipped at the post by Mr. Satyan who got his photographs published first.

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