Photo studios fading from the scene

In the 80s, there were at least 50 photo studios in the Hatkhola area of Old Dhaka. The place was then known as ‘Studio-para’ among Dhaka dwellers. There were 12 to 15 studios at New Market around the same time.

Though people take way too many pictures now, thanks to digital technology, the number of studios has plummeted. As a consequence, the the studio businesses across the country, including that of Hatkhola and New Market, is on the brink of extinction.

According to the studio business owners’ organisation, Bangladesh Photographic Association (BPA), there were once about 300,000 studios across the country.

Back then, studios were scattered all over the country. That number has fallen to a few thousand now. And, at present there are just a few hundred studios left in Dhaka.

Though photographs can be taken at every studio, not everyone has the device to produce lab prints of them on better quality paper.

The establishments which have that printing device are known as ‘studio labs’. The number of such studio labs in the capital is around 50, and very few in other parts of the country.

Owner of Padma Studio at the capital’s Moghbazar area, Akkas Mahmud, said there was a time when Hatkhola Road used to be called Studio-para. The road starting from Ittefaq intersection to Tikatuli via Ovishar Cinema Hall was lined with more than 50 studios.

There used to be a constant crowd there any way, with longer queues on different festivals like Eid, to get their photographs taken. Basically, it was the lower and middle class who went there most.

Once there were black and white box cameras to take pictures in the country. Then there were film cameras like pinhole, SLR and compact, etc. When smaller digital cameras arrived towards 2000, these gradually gained popularity.

With this began the use of cards, instead of the limited rolls of films. Later, the process of taking photographs became even more modernised with the arrival of DSLR cameras. The biggest change came however due to the spread of android phones in the last one and a half decades.

Studio business owners say, due to cameras being hugely available to people for digital technology, there’s no need to visit studios so often anymore. Nobody get their photographs printed without any such urgent need. Then again, photographs required for different generic uses can be printed on low-price papers from any photocopy-print shops.

For these reasons, the demand of getting photographs taken at studios has reduced a lot. Many studio owners ditched the business since studios lost customers and revenue. Many successful studio owners of the past have now moved on to other businesses.

There’s 35-years-old ‘Colour World Digital Photo Studio’ at Lalmatia in the capital. The owner Sajed AA Adel said, there were like 12-15 studio labs in the whole Dhanmondi area, starting from Shaymoli to Newmarket towards 2000.

However, the number started growing thin after 2006. Only four-five labs can be found in the area now. Technology has brought a change in people’s photography habits. And, the studio business is vanishing.

Even back in the era of black and white photographs, eight to ten people used to work at the prime studios, said Sajed Adel. The number has come down to two or three at present.

It’s an impossible thing to run a studio out of a rented shop now. In most cases, only those who own the shop themselves have kept holding onto the business, he said.

Adel continued, “I have held onto the business out of a sense of attachment. I didn’t even let go of the old employees. However, I have reduced the studio to a single room now. There’s a crockeries shop in the other room.”

The name of the sole studio standing at New Market now is ‘Photo Movie and Stills Studio’. The enterprise has been in business since 1958. While visiting the studio on Thursday, Zillur Rahman, the man in charge, said he has been working there since 1972.

There were 18 studios in New Market area after the independence, said Zillur Rahman. The number kept shrinking until it came down to just one. There were four studios- Aks, Lima, Hansa and Photo Movie, here in the 2000, he continued.

Back then, more than a hundred people used to crowd the studios every day. And now, the studios are visited by 15-20 people a day at best.

Taka used to weigh about 20 against dollar in the 80s. They would colour-print a single photograph for Tk 15 at that time, he said.

Zillur Rahman added, earlier studios used to sell different sorts of cameras, films, albums etc. items apart from taking photographs. People go to studios only to be photographed and get them printed. 

At that time, another employee of the studio Zahidur Rahman said, there were just two ways to get entertained before, watching films (cinema) and getting filmed (photograph). The situation isn't the same any longer. People come to studios for official requirements. 

Businessmen said, in the pre-independence period there were basically black and white (B&W) photographs. Coloured photographs were first introduced in the country towards 1972. The photographs used to be taken here while printed in countries like Japan, Hong Kong, India and Singapore.

In 1979, the nation's first ever studio for coloured photographs, Fuji Colour Lab and Studio was set up at capital's Science Lab area. Managing director of the company Izahar Khan Imran said, "Demand of coloured photographs in the country went up a few notches after independence."

"But, it was both time and money consuming to get photographs printed in another country. That's why we took the initiative of establishing country's first colour lab, contacting Fuji Company in Japan," he added.

Fuji once opened 112 branches throughout the country. Following in their steps, Japanese Konika, American Kodak and German Agfa companies also set up colour labs and began selling films. Once, there were about 40 Konika, 25 Kodak and 12 Agfa studios in the country. At present, none but Fuji has their operations running. But, Fuji owns only 32 studios.

Owner of capital’s Padma Studio Akkas Mahmud said, the technology of taking photos with filmless digital camera arrived in the country towards about 2000. So, the hassle of developing negatives after capturing the photo wasn’t there anymore. Use of computers in photography also started at the same time.

This made photo editing and printing easier even further. Earlier, photos used to be printed usually in a specific size. Later, computer made it possible to modify the photos in smaller or larger sizes. Although cameras there have been modernised in different ways after that, rest of the technology remained almost the same.

Several studios inside of Dhaka became became quite popular in the passage of time. Some of them have gone out of business, while some others are still standing.

The list of popular studios includes Manila of Lalbagh; Quick Photo, Glitter and VIP studio of Gulshan; Photomatic on Baily Road; Studio 27 on Hatkhola Road; Dallas of Arambagh; Fuji and Master Colour on Elephant Road; Photo Movie and Stills of New Market, Photohat and Manna’s Heaven in Dhanmondi; Colour World of Lalmatia, Asia Studio of Mirpur-1, Padma Studio of Moghbazar etc.

Meanwhile, Pamela, Hollywood, Raji, Sonargaon and Bithi from Hathkhola Road; Musical Mart of Victoria Park area; Konika of Dhanmondi, Aks Studio of New Market, Akabaka from elephant Road were notable among the closed down studios.

Businessmen said, many embassies require photographs on a specific colour paper for visa purposes. In such cases, the embassies don’t accept photos printed on common paper. So, people go to studios for this sort of need.

Those who wish to preserve photos for long time get them printed on original colour papers and store them in albums or frame them. Besides, studios are still in demand when it comes to weddings or birthday celebrations as well as for modeling jobs.

Although photography has a long history in the country, no item of this sector is produced locally. From different types of cameras to films, lab equipment, chemicals and paper- everything is import based. Studio items are sold at capital's Paltan More and Baitul Mukarram Mosque Market.

Bionic Camera House has been selling cameras a Baitul Mukarram Mosque Market since 1978. Proprietor of the shop Md Jahangir said, “Sales of film cameras hit the bottom in 2000.”

“After that, digital cameras used to sell good. That too isn’t being sold for about a decade. Still many come looking for film cameras, but we can’t deliver them. Alongside film cameras, import and sales of films have closed down as well,” he added.