Poor Old Photographer

He runs a small shop, and yes, he is a photographer. In the so-called race of modernization, where everybody is pushing hard to stay in the front row, he lives behind with his past. Technology gives us Nikon, Canon, Sony digital cameras, 8, 12, 16 mega pixels and more with shiny LCDs on the rear sides. Point, shoot and there you go. No, he doesn't need them at all. He has his old friend - A Pentax manual camera. Dusty, Rusty and mounted on a wooden-tripod. So old that it required bandaging with plaster tape to bind compotents. But he trusts on it and is rather content.

"Digital photography has become a joke. I cannot do it! The results now a days are flat. They simply cannot match the quality of old black and white prints. In old days, we were used to work on negatives for days to enhance the pictures. The ease in creating pictures has got the photographers hasty and they have lost their patience. The resulting pictures are no more flattering as they were in our days."

Qazi Rehmat Ullah (53) runs his shop named as Shama Photo Studio. It is located at the intersection of two busy streets Choubara Road and Cinema Road. The shop is very small. Lots of old posters decorate the walls. Some of them were made by the photographer and the rest are either advertistments or film posters. A thick dust-coating could be seen on everything. Two wood benches (one for guests and one for the client model to sit upon) and one chair lay around. A couple of tube lights and white lamps provide the lighting sources. In addition, one old working table that is no longer in use. So simple is his studio.


Once, he was one of the best photographers in Layyah. But no longer, he is.

"I am photographying for 25, 30 odd years. I was very successful in my own time. But now the time has changed. There are more responsibilities on me due to the family. Expenses have increased as chidren grew up. Prices are higher for everything but the people don't want to spend money on pictures. I take 30 Rupees (ca. 45 cents) for making a portrait photo. 20 rupees go for film, negatives, development/printing. With remaining 10 rupees (ca. 15 cents), I pay shop rent and electricty bill. There are hardly 5, or 6 customers in a day. Now calculate how much I may earn in a day?"

By showing a letter envelope, the photographer mentioned that his son was recently dropped out of the college due to his inability to pay the fees.


"Photogoraphy is an effort-taking job where one needs a good sight of vision. I am 53 years old now and am no longer able to do detailed retouching on the negatives. Moreover, I have not saved enough money to make investment in the business. All I can do is just let the time pass."


The photographer was unfamiliar with the new trends in the photography. We showed him our modern digital cameras and explained some of the key features and benifits. He took the cameras in both hands and exhibited great interest in using them. We wished, we could help him more. But perhaps, his time has already gone past him.

Who will fill the colors in his picture?

Kids Campus School Layyah

All right. Jens is now feeling much better, thanks to banana, yogurt mixed with desi Ispaghol, and green tea. We can go ahead to photography.

Let's meet local kids. There cannot be a better place to start than a school. We selected Kids Campus School located in my colony because my younger sister teaches there. The permission was kindly granted by the Principal Mr. Saeed Sheikh.


Kids campus is a small private school with moderate fees of 200-250 Rs (about 3 or 4 euros) per month. Most of the students in the school come from middle-class families. They were very excited to find a foreigner among them.

The students were well-prepared regaring the questions they asked from Jens. The range of question was quite broad. They discussed about serious issues like religion, education system, cultural and living style differences between the two countries. The typical questions were:

What is your religion?
General questions about Germany (Population, Area etc)
How does the Pakistani culture differ from German?
German family system and living styles, food
Women in Germany?
Experience in Pakistan?
What brought you to a small town like Layyah?


The students also shared some funny jokes with us. Jens was asked to give a short lesson of German language. He taught on blackboards some very important German words like Guten Tag, Hallo, Auf Wiedersehen. Moreover, many students took autographs from Jens.


Our visit in Kids Campus lasted for about 3 hours. During this time, a lot of information was exchanged between students and us. The students were well-mannered and their faces reminded us our own school-time. We came back with golden memories.

Good Morning Layyah

Sunrise in Layyah 24.2.2006

Jens in Layyah (Pakistan)

Since our journey from Germany to Pakistan started, Jens and I have had a good time together. Photography, a main objective of this trip, started in the DB train when it left Magdeburg. The cameras kept clicking throughout the journey and afterwards. After a short stay of two days in Lahore, we arrived in my home city Layyah.

In Layyah, our first visit place was mighty Indus river. The objective was to get some landscape shots and most importantly picturise the people living beside to the river. Most of our travelling was along the river bank through local villages. There were no properly-constructed roads and it turned out to be a very bumpy and dusty ride. Anyhow, at the end of the day, we were pretty satisfied by our efforts.


Dust is one of the hallmarks of Layyah. In case of Jens, it was not flying dust but heavy food that created some problem. From the day one, Jens began enjoying Pakistani food. He couldn't simply resist against the deliciousness of NaaN, Aloo/ simple ParaTha, Lahori Chanay, Samosay, GajjRela. Unfortunately, it didn't take too long to know that his body couldn't adapt to the sudden dietary change. He fell sick.


For last two days, Jens is not feeling very well and is suffering from abdominal pain and diarrhea. Headache is also haunting him. He has some weakness and is laying in the bed most of the time. Doctor has prescribed him some medicines. The current status is that the headache is lessened but the diarrhea is still a frequent visitor.

No more heavy food at the moment. Simple rice, yogurt, pastery bread and fruit is all he can eat now. Not to mention the bitter ORS drink to overcome dehyderation.

May Jens get well soon.

Blind Beggar

There was a blind beggar in front of mosque,

asking for alms,

his prayers were mournful,

his hands were looking in different direction than his eyes.

People were passing by him but could neither see him nor hear his cries.

Amongst many was I.

I saw him, simply took this pictures and left.

My feet were moving away but his cries still reached my ears.

There was a blind, deaf begger in me.

Photo taken in Lahore (17/2/2006)

Lahori Touch

There is a saying...

He who has not yet seen Lahore, has not been born!

Jens must be happy to know that he is born now. Somehow, I have been through this process many times already :-)

Lahore is a vibrant city and has wide gamut of colors. From old to new, from rich to poor, from odd crowded places to being peaceful, from classical architectural arches to the modern avenues, it in itself has many worlds which are openly laid for you to explore. We spent only two days in Lahore but somehow tried our best to capture the moments that we could. Here are few pictures from the collection.

Badshahi Mosque

Some reaction over the Prophet Muhammad's cartoons

Transportation - Old vs. new (near liberty market)

Local Cinema

Food Street Lahore

Some pictures taken during our visit to Food Street Lahore.

Food Street in Gawalmandi, Lahore is a centre of traditional Pakistani food. The site is surrounded by centuries old buildings and places like Landa Bazaar, Mayo Hospital and Baansan-wala Bazaar. The food street is open to traffic in the morning but as the sun sets, the street is blocked off. Hungry visitors arrive and stay till very late at night, enjoying some of the best local food available in Lahore. (more on wikipedia)

Welcome to Pakistan

OK, here we are. After a journey of more than 15 hours Jens and I finally reached Lahore today at 7:30am. The flight from Frankfurt to Muscat was in time but from Muscat to Lahore the flight had a delay of about two and half hours.
The travelling was pleasant except the delay. Meal served during the journey was very tasty. Rice, Chicken Kormah, etc. yummmmmmmmmmmy
Outside the Lahore International Airport, Sohail, a very close friend of mine waited for us on the airport for 2 hours. We found a TAXI and without any problems, we were in the Alpine Hotel where we had booked our room. Same old, noisy Lahore.
I was very excited to watch Pak vs. India 4th ODI cricket match of the series. Luckily, we had a TV in our hotel room with a cable connection. But my excitement turned into disappointment as Pakistan were outclassed by India. Pakistan lost the match by 5 wickets. India clinched the series.........
The sun was setting when Me and Jens came out of the room to have a walk in the city. We found an internet club and thought to have some surfing. So here I am writing the blog. The computers seem to be from the earliest era. Windows 98, 344 MHz, 128MB RAM (I cannot believe that as they are dead slow). Some of the systems units are without casing. Nude xxx. But the internet connection feels OK.
Jens is also trying his luck on the other machine. He must have been having a unique time with such computers.
Welcome to Pakistan.

P.S.
I will keep updating this blog. Jens maintains his own blog.

I shall be that

source

I died from minerality and became vegetable;
And From vegetativeness I died and became animal.
I died from animality and became man.
Then why fear disappearance through death?
Next time I shall die
Bringing forth wings and feathers like angels;
After that, soaring higher than angels -
What you cannot imagine,
I shall be that

(Jeláluddín Rumí)

The face of time

Winter in Magdeburg

I was just browsing through my hard disk when I found this picture. It was taken while I was in my room looking through the window. (December 2005)

Enter Blogging!

At last, I am pushed to use the Blogging due to various reasons. Now I can publish my thoughts / work regularly from anywhere and with less pain (no longer static webpage development in front page). The ability to access / write blog from everywhere is a huge benifit for me. As I am going to my home country Pakistan in a couple of days for an exclusive photography trip, I will update this blog timely by writing down my experiences and will upload some selected pictures. It should make a good photo diary.

Enter blogging...NOW!!!