City’s oldest lensman still on shooting spree

Avneet Kaur

Jalandhar, August 18

Having clicked his first picture in 1955, 79-year-old Pyare Lal is perhaps the oldest professional photographer in the town. He has captured some rare images of former Punjab Chief Minister Pratap Singh Kairon, covered historic events of the state, including Kapoori Morcha in Patiala and the arrest of activist Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale.

He is, perhaps, the only photographer who clicked the pictures of “floating heads” in a major bomb blast that targeted Friends Theatre in Jalandhar. The images of the ghastly crime scene captured by him found space on the front page of most national, regional and vernacular newspapers. Pyare Lal has worked with many newspapers and magazines and had also served as a freelancer to many English newspapers.

Born in Baddowal, Ludhiana, in 1938, Pyare Lal had moved to Jalandhar since his school days and has been a shutter bug when he was just 17. Since then, he developed the knack of turning even the most mundane assignments into captivating works of art.

Sharing about his life as a press photographer in the early 60s, Jalandhar Tribune asked him a few questions related to his professional and personal journey so far.

What did a typical photojournalist look like back then?

It was almost like photographers were second-class citizens. Those were really hard days. At that time, we were hired on contract. I was given the charge of covering all spots related to the police, railways, radio station and accidents not by the newspaper, but also by officials of the police and railways as at that time, they didn’t have many photographers. Even terrorist groups and other parties, thinking photographers to be reporters, used to hand over press notes to us to get these published in the newspapers and in case the news did not appear, we were even issued threats.

What kind of camera equipment did you have at that time?

At that time, the popular cameras were Camera 120. There were camera plates and we often used bulbs to click pictures. With the use one bulb, only one picture used to get clicked and bulb got fused. I had sold pictures for Re 1, and the film I used for my camera named TriX, I bought for Rs 2.75 which clicked 12 photos in a single film.

Which were the major incidents you have covered?

I had clicked the pictures of marriage ceremony of athlete Milkha Singh in Pathankot. The swearing-in ceremony of the first Mayor of Jalandhar Jai Kishan Saini was clicked by me. I covered many terrorist attacks. While I was clicking the pictures of protest organised by followers of Indira Gandhi on her arrest in Delhi, the police even broke my camera into parts. I clicked renowned singers Jagjit Singh and Malkeet Singh too.

When did you decide to be photographer? How this passion entered you?

My father Bir Chand was a photo dealer. He used to sell and purchase photographs. I had been born and brought up with pictures by my side. I do not exactly know how, but yes with time, I had been more passionate towards photography. Till date, when my body has grown old, my eyes still look for innovative things.

What is the major difference between the photographers of that time and now?

Now with new technology and the DSLR cameras, things have changed. Similarly from those black and white printouts, the world looks for colours and coloured printouts. But the zeal and enthusiasm that the old photographers had is somewhere lacking in the new-generation professionals. They are more involved in editing for beautifying pictures, whereas we even didn’t know what editing was at our time. The younger generation has a good eye, but social issues and other loopholes in society need to be addressed through photographs.