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Photo : H. Vibhu

The big picture Jayaprakash Komath, of Komath Studio, Vypeen, with one his antique cameras

For the younger generation of islanders this landmark may not mean much. Of course, they must have seen old, sepia-toned photographs, or the rich black and white ones of their grand parents with a printed label bearing the name Komath Studio fixed faithfully to one of the bottom corners of the framed photographs.

However, for someone with a passion for photography this place is more than just a studio. It is virtually a journey into the history of photography and studios in the State. The contributions made by this studio in producing and empowering technicians have been invaluable. In fact, if it had not been for the enterprise of Sreedaran Komath, who founded Komath Studio, many studios would not have come up in the State.

Established in 1940 in his house, Sreedaran named it the Photohouse. Later it was shifted to the present building and renamed it Komath Studio. This, along with Krishnan Nair Studio, is perhaps the only surviving photo studios from a past generation.

An inevitable part of the studio’s history is Rocky Master. It was this man who inspired Sreedaran to take up photography seriously and even start a studio of his own. Finding that Sreedaran showed an uncanny interest in drawing and painting from an early age, his brother Gopalan decided to put him under a tutor. Rocky Master was chosen to train Sreedaran. Gopalan even persuaded Rocksy master to stay at the ‘Komath Tharavadu.’ For nine years Rocky Master stayed here teaching Sreedaran the basics and intricacies of sketching, and various painting styles. He always insisted that Sreedaran explore, master new emerging artistic trends and expressions.

Sreedaran’s early lessons on photography were from Rocky Master. These sparks of information remained in his mind forever. Time moved on, so did his thoughts on photography. Rocky Master died in Sreedaran’s family home. Those were the times when a photographer was treated royally. He used to travel with assistants to help him carry his equipment. It was a sort of golden age for photographers. For the layman the camera was a strange machine and photography a complicated art that only some could master.

And in these times of glory Komath Studio grew and flourished. In those days studio’s with electricity was a rarity, bright name boards were hung to inform customers that photos could be taken here anytime. Till the coming of electricity the studios without power used sunlight to take photos. The sunlight was let in through a glass fitted onto the roof of the studio and the image was absorbed by the camera into a negative made of thick glass.

Jayaprakash Komath, Sreedaran’s nephew, remembers a day of heavy rain and wind, when the glass on top slipped away, allowing the water to seep in. He had to fix it quickly to prevent the studio from getting flooded. He takes out an old album of black and white prints, most of them taken during the golden days of the studio. There are some interesting pictures like group photo of the ‘Madras Fire Services,’ which takes a rewind to the years of British Cochin, photographs of the Anglo Indian community on the island, their lifestyle, a rare photograph of a giant killer shark surrounded by its proud hunters with their long harpoons that seemed exactly like a scene from an adventure movie.

In fact, Olivier Culmann , an Italian photographer on a visit to the State, was so attracted by the historical importance, artistic and material quality of the collection of photographs made big copies of them, which was then projected in a slide show at the ‘Rencontres Internationales De La Photographie’ (international meeting of photography) at Arles, France in July this year.

A lot of professionals were required to keep the studio going. Young men, who wished to be photographers, had to wait long, work really hard for years, before they were allowed to touch a camera, let alone take photos. A trainee had to learn every stage or process of photography that included dark room work, recopying and enlargement, re-touching etc. All these different tasks had to be mastered by the students under the watchful eyes of their master.

Right from the time they began Komath Studio had eight to ten trainees. By the 90’s this was reduced to just three or four as technology was improving at a hectic pace and manpower required to run a studio was minimum. The studio has changed with the times. They have now bought digital cameras and other related equipment to meet the demands of the customers. The training at Komath Studio used to be considered near perfect. Those who completed their training here were in huge demand throughout the State.

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