[Reader-list] final posting , madhuja mukherjee

[madhuja mukherjee]

 6 (final )POSTING:  

 

TALKING TO AHMED ALI, VETERAN PHOTOGRAPHER  

(Ahmed Ali is famous for his Industrial photographs, photographs of the people of Bastar region and publicity photographs for Advertisements).  

 

 

Madhuja: We are here to seek your help as it were, to shed some light on the ambiguity around the use of glass negatives in as late as 1950s and also hope you shall share with us some of your work experiences.    

A.Ali: Yes, but firstly, the use of glass negatives were definitely out and over by 1940s, though there was a period of overlap when some were still using glass as others moved on to ‘celluloid’. This is prior to the Second World War, by then, Kodak and Dupont in America had introduced celluloid type material produced from plastic. And, after the war materials were surely available much more easily. So, in 1940s or even in1950s people would use both glass plates and sheet films. I got pre-coated glass plates from Kodak. Since, people wanted big photographs of themselves or group photographs thus, there were these big studio cameras and huge glass negatives. One would load the glass negatives into a slide and afterwards all you had to do was to take contact prints. Nevertheless, just as we moved from paper to glass and then to wet plates, we also shifted from glass to plastic while the cameras became smaller and ‘better’. Glass had several difficulties- the negatives would break,
 enlargement was a problem as it created too many grains, then for fieldwork people would have carry portable dark rooms since the negatives had to be developed immediately. And yet, some adventurous people did travel all over India and to the frontiers to take photographs. One the other hand, celluloid had invisible grains and when you did enlargements the images would remain just as sharp and clear. 

 

Madhuja: That’s precisely what is so intriguing, how is it then that we found about 600 Glass Negatives that are certainly publicity material of 1950s- in fact- of as late as 1956-7? 

A.Ali: Yes, yes, but that may be called the ‘tail-end’ of an older practice. Some people had old cameras and they were still using it. I have been working as a photographer for about 70s years now. I started professionally after the war and before our Independence. I was about 20 then. You see, after the war effort was over, what would the British do with the ‘left-over’ machines and equipments? They started exporting all sorts of things. That’s also true for America. America particularly- because they themselves didn’t suffer from the war as Europe did. There was no bombing there, the industries didn’t suffer. So they manufactured very fast and they were ahead in publicity too.

 

Madhuja:  That’s how Hollywood took over the world market
. 

A.Ali: Yes, Yes, they didn’t have to bear the wounds of the war, so they progressed faster. But India also had to cope with situation. Publicity material- leaflets, brochures etc were required. However, at that point of time our photographers were chiefly trained for studio portraits. The long exposures of the studio cameras produced very self-conscious, rigid images. Most photographers lacked experiences beyond the studios. Even the positioning/angles of the characters were not always interesting. As far as I am concerned, I began in school and later did photography on my own. Fortunately for me, the Advertising Manager of the Bombay based journal ‘Onlooker’ saw my photographs and recommended me to J. Walter Thompson, which became India Thompson afterwards. I took photographs of the Union Carbide Factory at Cassipore, for Walter Thompson. As a young aspiring photographer, I took great care to create highlights and contrast. I put the background in shadows, made it dark so that I
 could isolate the man and his machine in the foreground. I was using an American camera named Speed Graphic. This was around 1945. They liked my photographs. Later, I worked for other advertising agencies. These were mostly European and American companies.  In 1948, I started here on my own [Palace Court, Calcutta]. Do you see that photograph [showing a photograph of Amitabh Bachchan]? He came here to be a model. I told him to go to Bombay, because advertisements of male products like suits etc were done in Bombay. He took leave from his job and went to Bombay and after a while his career started. That’s how it is
.

 

Madhuja:  Did he seem to have potential at that time?[!]

A.Ali: Oh, yes. Anyway, in the process of my work, I have photographed several the factories that mushroomed in India. I have about 3 lakhs negatives. You see, I had a busy time. Nonetheless, a project with Tata Steel Plant [for J. Walter Thompson] around 1946 was one the most interesting assignments I got. It tickled my imagination. I took artistic photographs of the workers and by keeping the steel plant in background I took photographs of ‘advasi’ women bathing in the foreground. It was so beautiful and it was such contrast. It was much appreciated. The Managing Director of Tata Steel saw the photographs and he was so happy. Later, I got an assignment with the Tata Steel. I even photographed their photographic department!

 

Madhuja: What emerges from your accounts on advertisement/publicity photography is the question of contrast. High contrast imaging seems to be the keynote. Would you say glass was preferred for its high contrast resolutions?     

A.Ali: No no, what happened was that high contrast was necessary for blocks, typesetting, titles, logos, designs and other art works. You would get complete black and white letters. One could cut those out, stick those. It would also be required for half tone images. That kind of absolute contrast didn’t work well with other kinds of professional photography for we preferred the soft, grey tones. 

 

Madhuja: I see. Nonetheless, we also wanted to ask you about the nature of publicity or the demands of publicity and the ways in which images would be altered. The images and the characters /faces/ spaces inevitably appear very typified, either bright or dark and sharp. Could you tell us about the rules of layout and the entire culture of publicity?

A.Ali: It’s a world of manipulation open to the artist. Similar tones tend to look dull and drab, so we often increased the contrast, retouched the details, change the background. A good advertisement layout should be eye-catching. That’s the bottom line. Too much detailing is dispensable, in fact, we should put in minimum information. Finally, one has to make an impact. 

 

Madhuja: So I guess, in our case the moot point is the problem of block printing and publicity. Perhaps they were attaching photographs to the blocks or to the titles of the films. There are few images with us that reveal this process. First we have the titles then the entire poster/brochure cover that has both the images and the titles. 

A.Ali: That’s right. Perhaps some of the old block –printers are still using glass negatives and the antique cameras for publicity purposes.  

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