This article has been triggered by two things. The first inspiration is a recent Bengali film called Chhobiwalla and the second is that August 19 is celebrated the world over as World Photography Day.

Still photography as a creative art, or the still photographer as a character unto himself who keeps a story moving, is a rare occurrence in Indian cinema now.

This neglect is perhaps traced back to our entry into the digital world, where even press photographers mostly use their advanced cell phones to record interviews and press conferences, and cell phones with stands to record reels for their paying clients.

Even so, in this ambience of relative invisibility, a journey into the past through cinema reveals an interesting mix of films that have featured a photographer as an important character and his camera as a significant catalytic agent in unfolding a story or becoming a character unto itself.

World cinema has no dearth of unforgettable celluloid photographers.

A few examples show how still photography is not just about recording visual history but also a revelation of the versatility of the camera within the larger screen space created, manipulated and controlled by a character within the film.

The first film that comes to mind in world cinema is the unforgettable classic Roman Holiday (1953), starring the smashing Gregory Peck and the debutante Audrey Hepburn, where the camera of Gregory Peck is used as a twist in the climax of this sweet love story between a runaway princess and a press photographer who do not know each other when the film begins, but the love story ends when the hero reveals his true identity.

Take Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window (1954), for instance.

A nail-biting thriller that reveals how the still camera in the hands of an intelligent photographer, though temporarily trapped in a wheelchair, can unravel a cold-blooded murder by freezing moments in time and space through an open window.

The photographer is no detective but becomes one when he discovers the magic of his camera while under forced confinement.

Italian filmmaker Michelangelo Antonioni’s Blow-Up (1966), a cult film and his first English-language film, is also a murder mystery but distanced from Hitchcock’s style and approach. Antonioni focuses his narrative almost exclusively on Thomas (David Hemmings), a fashion photographer who is rude and nasty with his models.

His chance ‘adventure’ with his camera in a neighbourhood park makes him suspect that he has uncovered a murder.

From then on, the creativity of Antonioni comes to the fore as he moves the script into the darkroom of the photographer and the negatives of the photographs he has clicked as he blows them up to find out exactly what he has seen.

The murder remains vague and becomes vaguer as the prints are........

© Mathrubhumi English