Life through a viewfinder! Maganbhai Patel & his beloved dark room...

Shri Maganbhai Khushalbhai Patel: 

75 years and the focused journey of composing assets of memories continue ravishingly with Maganbhai Khushalbhai Patel, Founder - "Sangam Studio"  Vadodara [estb.1966] A simple, down to earth, soft-spoken person, genuine to his work, loyal to his work & passionate about his work, Shri Magan Bhai is an example of "struggle to progress & peak" - some one who believes in satisfaction through perfection & who cant tolerate cheating anyone, not even his own self. A person, who for today's generation may seem like some one from another world, a disciplined human who regrets [heavily] just getting late to his studio by 4 minutes in his entire career of 60 years [that too since he had gone just to distribute the prasad of the pooja]! & with an exact date "Jan 6th 1997"... A man who has reached the prime of satisfaction from work, happiness from life & peace from family, believes in nothing but self-discipline & honesty...in work & with the self....  A profession, just like any other, a man just like any other, a life just like any other, but why is it important to put it out to the world, just because, its just that these simple people with their "real" lives teach us how to live & grow, both within & outside. Its through these simple but extraordinary people that we see a mirror of "true human lives"

Family photograph, Wedding projects, Media support pictures, Crime proof pictures, cultural programs shoot, religious, social, political & educational fronts, portfolios, daily needs, identity proof and for many such things people are dependent on photographers. "We give them the best and we try to give them “THE BEST” since we are important to mass, though in a small but a vital way".

“Curiosity on seeing how when clicked, the image gets printed on paper made me take up photography as a profession. But when I started, I didn’t even know what profession would mean”. Maganbhai as a kid had come to a studio with parents to take a family photo & got excited to see how live things could be captures & could be reproduced on a sheet. He went to the same studio, while bunking his school & the owner Mr. Ram Vyas of this “Nutan studio” [at Raopura] understood his interest & offered him a job. After about 5 days he declared to his parents that he doesn’t want to do anything else but take this up. He was hardly fifteen then…

"I started  with my elder brother from Katodara village [Kamrej - Surat] for Vadodara just on a little trip once & finally ended up for staying back forever, for the good" Vadodara my 'karmabhoomi'  which has given me the best of the food, shelter & family, to which I am so thankful, is the place, where I very clearly remember I had not even a place to sleep at night one!" Shri Maganbhai, had slept on the floor for several days and nights in a small roadside temple corridor in the olden part of the Vadodara city. Several years later, now, when he falls back on his memory to see how beautifully with simplicity he has lived a simple but a full life..

“I aspire to go back to my village, do farming in my sugarcane fields & retire now, since there is no work for me in my own studio. My studio has grown big & my son Prakash & grandson Harsh are there to take care of it. I should give them their space to work with their new ideas & in their own way & thus keep the banner of ‘Sangam studio’ fresh & working, forever. It’s a matter of pride for Maganbhai since the next two generations have taken up his profession & thus his son & grandson would be serving at his studio. Nothing can be more satisfying than seeing that their own family members would keep his hard earned name & studio alive.

In the early 1950’s his fascination became his interest & work. Initially he was allowed to work as a help to the studio from morning to evening 8. At the salary of Rs. 10/- per month, young Maganbhai found his own new world. The “Dark room” in the studio always kept him anxious. And he not allowed entering in made him even more curious. He started working for cleaning off the chemicals on the photo by taking a tray of water and changing the waters for 29 times, per picture. To remember the counts and not to commit a mistake and obey his boss, he kept 29 stones as a count.

“My strict boss is my Guru & I love him for his strictness. If he had not been so, I would not have enjoyed working in this field for my entire life now” While recollecting, Maganbhai shares that he had once taken a paint brush and started doing finishing on the photograph [since it was an era of manually painting the photos for finishing & polishing] and its then that Mr. Ram Vyas snatched away the brush & pointed to not ignore the dust on the studio walls & frames. Maganbhai said that in those times, the touching in the photography was the most important & therefore he realized it’s not a game to play, just a sway hard would destroy the image completely. He wanted his boss to let him do this job & therefore worked hard to keep the studio clean. Now, years later, Maganbhai has a big name in the section of manually toughing the photographs & adding correct essence to it though water colors & paints. He was so well at this that people of other studios also sent their works to be done by him.

After being just a help at the studio & then a chemical cleaner & then a photograph manual editor, he went on to become a dark room expert. After 2 year at Nutan studio, finally the time came when he was allowed to enter the dark room.

• The first rule was not to let the negative films have even a bit of the exposure to light.
• Second thing was to remember 60 counts for 60 seconds that each picture should be processed

Since the watch could not be visible in the dark room, Maganbhai started keeping the count by murmuring to him self “tic tic1 – tic tic 2 to 60” or he would say Ram 1, Ram 2 – so as to invoke Lord Ram’s name as well as his boss’s name.   The dark room has only a faint red light and it goes in 3 steps: Developer – water – hypo fixer. Zero exposure and thus a picture is ready. For about 2 hard copies to be developed around one hours’ time was required.

He also worked at Pratima Studio where Mohanbhai the owner asked him to work in the dark room as well as on reception desk. He once left the bill file with one rupee coin on purpose & went off, leaving the studio at Maganbhai’s disposal. On return Maganbhai gave him the rupee & Mohanbhai told him that it was your test of honesty & you have passed in it. In such a scenario when each rupee was important, Maganbhai always stayed honest & loyal while being a hard worker.

He headed to work for Kumar studio where he was offered Rs. 15/- per month. He was not only supposed to work at the studio but also as a help to the owner Bakubhai’s residence. The studio was at Maganbhai’s supervision & he took good care of it. Since he was allowed to work with his own ideas, he got to learn lot of things at the Kumar’s.Once, when Bakubhai’s friend visited the studio, he requested Maganbhai to set a darkroom for his residence, since he was a lover of the art. And later they both established a studio named “Ravi” in partnership.

Meanwhile, Maganbhai started developing his skills & enhancing his efficiency of clicking pictures & processing them. Maganbhai’s first camera was a German company made Roliflex which was a box cam with 2 x 2 negative films.

He worked successfully at Vasant Studio in Dandia bazaar and took care of it for Vasant bhai. Slowly Vasant bhai became busy in visiting Mumbai and bringing the material and supplies to the studio & finally became a wholesaler and supplier of studio products in Vadodara. Studio was left at the discretion of Maganbhai & thus Maganbhai became fully capable of sorting out everything related to the studio & photography. His stop at Vasant Studio was a remarkable period in his life & from 1954 to 1966 he worked there. He asked Vasant bhai to allow him to take leave from his work, but he was so sentimentally attached with Maganbhai that he didn’t permit. After two more years, Maganbhai again requested & Vasantbhai had to agree.

In the meanwhile, Maganbhai’s brother took him on a hunt for a space where he could open a studio for himself. A noble lady, Bhartiben agreed to give her space but warned that the place has been bringing no success to anyone. [What a noble lady] On minimal rent of Rs. 60/- per month [Maganbhai’s salary was barely Rs. 175/- pm] Maganbhai embarked upon a novel journey of his own!

Maganbhai with his work savings of Rs 1500/- [which is what he had in all from 16 yrs of hardwork] he opened a studio. Loyal Maganbhai requested Vasantbhai to himself come & inaugurate the studio on 5^th Jan 1966. Vasantbhai with happiness and becoming sentimental cried that day & Maganbhai realized how well he’d earned the respect from Vasantbhai. Till date, each year, Sangam studio since 1966 celebrates the opening day with a “satyanarayana” pooja.

Firsts” to remember for ever at his own studio:
Maganbhai’s first camera of his studio: Japan made Yashicka – twin lens box camera

First customer: Business men & owners of Azad Agency, Mrs. Meenakshi & Mr. Maganbhai Patel.  [They were so very keen to be the first to be clicked that they came and sat on the footpath to be on time not to miss the opportunity & to wait for a 1^st couple picture.]



First outside contract: As the allowance of total Rs. 40/- Maganbhai was invited to Lakhodara village to shoot a picture for a son adoption ceremony.
First friend around: Tea stall owner
First problem: No good work for first 6 months.
Initial first extra income at studio: around Rs. 8/- pm.

First person to support: His son, Prakashbhai Patel [A professional photographer now]
First innovation in ideas [at present] Grandson Harsh Patel [Upcoming photographer]   

First floor of studio: First couple picture, Mrs Swati & Mukeshbhai Patel [daughter in law & son of Meenaksheeben & Magan bhai Patel – 1^st customer of the studio]

First & most extra work at studio from outside: Jyoti Studio of Vallabh Vidyanagar [a tedious job of manually doing the touching & finishing of photographs]
His first rule: No customer should go unhappy or unsatisfied.
His first motto: Never should the studio be close on working days, no matter what.
First song on Radio at his studio: which atomically came was: “Dukhbhare din beete re bhaiya, aab sookh aayo re!”


Years after years went off in toil & the fruits are compared to nectar since he started from scratch & now lives a very happy family life. He went on & on & never turned back. Patience, honesty & virtues paid him not just money, but a name of quality & respect along with satisfaction & peace. His family members are his heart beats & photography remains to be his first love, yet & forever. He goes to the studio everyday now to help his son & supervise other things & guide as well as, at least to meet the building of his sweat which stands proud today. A morning newspaper to be read at the studio & a visit on a cycle around the city area remain his default schedule......

Prakashbhai Patel [son], who since his university days had been coming to the studio to help dad, is now a professional photographer since around 27 years & has also won prizes at International photography competitions including the one at Japan in 1990. He loves drawing & music & so his motto is to balance artwork in photography so that the field absorbs creativity as its essence. 

The studio renovated by Prakash Patel with his novel ideas.

 


Harsh Patel [grandson] is very enthusiastic and passionate about photography. It is in his blood & he loves it, therefore he is apt to carry on grandpa’s and pa’s legacy. Around 20 yrs of age, Harsh is all set to take this up as a profession. He has been adding new ideas to the studio & has been contributing by presenting the next gen. energy. Believing in quality along with fancy & an extra tinge in each project of photography, Harsh is indeed the Prince at “Sangam Studio”. ………. 

 Studio build tall after innovative ideas contributed by grandson Harsh Patel.

Through various episodes of Maganbhai's life at the studio we can understand the people of those times & how with lot of patience & ethics one use to live. Maganbhai didn’t even have coal once in a while to even cook food & though he requested one of his bosses, he was not even helped by Rs.1 /-

Maganbhai’s teachers [as he finds it] are a couple from Mumbai who had relocated in Vadodara & they were Mrs. Saralaben & Narendrabhai Karvir who were in the most difficult financial situation. "Saralaben once asked me to buy 200 grams of cumin seeds and the paper wrapper on that contained a white thread, she told me that I should have made two packs of the same so that she could get 2 white threads. I realized then that she would use that white thread to patch her black sari. From them, who were masters in photo editing [manually] taught me how to survive even in the utmost difficult times".

 For the wedding of his daughter Kalpanaben, the family members themselves took pictures. Maganbhai’s family members would also join him at night after studio to work with him in photo editing etc.

 “I am interested in learning computers to enhance my skill in photography through new technology but I feel that since I’ve lived my life & my world through my own manual style, I should give way to my son & grandson to continue.”  

Maganbhai’s favorite is Black & white photography which according to him has a charm like none other. He loves music & love to ride a cycle – which he does even today & instead of a usual handle, he has a handle of a steering wheel on his unique cycle!

Interview at Sangam Studio in Sept 2010 - Shri Maganbhai Patel sharing episodes of his life & discussing on photography with Manasi Pandya.

Inspiration to write this biography is given by Guru Sharad Pandya [Bharatanatyam exponent] who respects the art of photography & respects Shri Maganbhai Patel & his hardwork.Guru Pandya has also had the opportunity to not only see Shri Maganbhai Patel work but also had shared several traditional classical dance photography shoot by him for his institution "Purva School of Bharatanatyam" - Vadodara.