Photographs take us back into time, evoking sepia-tinted memories of the past, but have you ever wondered about the history of the humble camera, the gadget that has made it possible to capture those memorable moments?
Enter Aditya Arya, a veteran photographer, whose love for the camera is clearly proven when you see his self-funded vintage camera museum, ‘Museo Camera’ housed in the basement of his Gurgaon house.
He has not only painstakingly collected old cameras (dating all the way back to the late 1800s) and captioned them (which he says is an on-going, time-consuming process), but also keeps them sparkling clean; in fact, over 70% of them are in working condition. He also has more than 700 original patents of cameras made around the 1880s and 20,000 silver prints depicting the freedom struggle of India.
Most of the cameras here are from his personal collection while some are gifts from other photography enthusiasts. Some of the cameras have even found their way to this museum via tech-savvy kabadiwallas who send him pictures of vintage cameras over WhatsApp!
The museum could easily be described as the Mecca for any photography lover, since it offers a peak into the history of their most prized possession, the camera. He also conducts workshops on the history of cameras and photography, explaining vintage photo processing techniques like egg albumen and salt paper.
Come August 19, World Photography Day, and the Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon will launch the ‘The Museo Camera – Centre of Photography’, and his collection will be displayed in a sprawling 15,000 square feet space.
Follow Arya’s work here and updates on the museum here.
Featured image source: Sup Delhi
Words by Pavi Sagar
