All About Newspapers

Photo Division: striving to
satiate dearth of quality images

“With the advent of digital technology affecting almost every sphere of life, all mediums of representation have sophisticatedly been vamping. Being one of the most vital factors enabling publishing industry for bouncy depiction of valued moments, photography is also changing theatrically, technically as well as aesthetically, and Photo Division is constantly striving to effectively serve the nation in better presenting its strengths through still photographs,” stated Debatosh Sengupta, director, Photo Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Govt of India, in tête-à-tête conversation with Ajeet Singh, assistant editor, All About Newspapers.

"Generally, news photographs which are published in masses are not such so great. Excluding few national newspapers and magazines, most of the publications in India are inadequately concerned about images’ quality. However, readers or viewers now are quite twitting towards the quality and message conveyed by these photos. So, the concept of ‘quality in photography’ is emerging,” opined Debatosh Sengupta.

stablished in October 1959 as an integrated Photo Unit, Photo Division (as renamed in early sixties), a subordinate office of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Govt of India, is the largest organisation in the country, involved in the production and storage of still photographs, having lakhs of negatives/transparencies (available in digital format as well) from the pre-independence period up to the present, which are of archival and historical value. Presently headquartered in Soochna Bhawan, CGO Complex (earlier in Akashvani Bhavan), New Delhi, the Division is sublimely surging ahead under the astute guidance of Debatosh Sengupta, director, ably assisted by sanctioned staff of 71 individuals, and performing very well directly or indirectly contributing to the newspapers and magazines publishing industry.

Apart from providing visuals (still) to sister media units and other central as well as state government bodies, the organisation is also responsible to photographically document the development and the socio-economic as well as political changes in the country. Celebrating the 50th anniversary of its establishment and enriching collection for the posterity, the Division has built up an invaluable archive of photographs on different aspects of Indian life, culture, flora and fauna, social and industrial prosperity.

Ambika Soni, the union minister of Information & Broadcasting, delivering key note address at the ‘Indian Magazine Congress 2009’, in New Delhi on Nov 5, 2009.

The Vice President of India Mohammad Hamid Ansari releasing a copy of ‘Nai Duniya’ in New Delhi on Oct 03, 2008.

The Indian Language Newspapers Association (ILNA) president, Sunil Dang presenting a memento to the union minister for Information & Broadcasting and Parliamentary Affairs, Priyaranjan Dasmunsi in recognition of his initiative for the uplift of language newspapers, in New Delhi on Oct 05, 2007.

T h e minister of state for Urban Development, Ajay Maken addressing the annual general meeting of Indian Language Newspapers Association (ILNA), in New Delhi on July 15, 2006.

The union minister of Information & Broadcasting and Culture S Jaipal Reddy delivering a keynote address at Indian Magazine Summit 2005, organised by Indian Newspaper Society, in New Delhi on July 29, 2005.

External Publicity Division of the Ministry of External Affairs, President, Vice President,Prime Minister, PIB and DAVP receive the major chunks of services provided by the Photo Division. While PIB uses their images for daily feeding to the press through internet, DAVP completely depends on the visual support from the archive of the Division for preparation of various exhibitions and also advertising materials. The newspaper organisations and magazines are given photographs free of cost on receipt of a requisition through PIB. Now, images are also easily accessible on their own website (http://photodivision.gov.in).

The Division also supplies photographs in various sizes on payment both in black & white and colour to the non-publicity organisations and general public at large under their pricing scheme. “Before the advent of digital technology, under pricing scheme, three to five lakh photographs were supplied annually, but now this number has come down to around 1.5 lakhs generating revenues per annum to the tune of fifteen lakh rupees,” conveyed Sengupta.

Committed to photographically depict all major events of national importance, the organisation covers thousands of news and feature assignments annually. During the last three months apart from routine jobs, they have executed around thirteen thousand assignments only for Delhi Government, under which around fifty thousand images were supplied. Assignments related to President, Vice President as well as Prime Minister’s functions and news/current affairs (if completed before 9.00 pm) are finished on the same day.

Talking about the changing role of photography in today’s media industry when ‘pictorial layout’ is being focused in newspapers and magazines, Sengupta opined, “Generally, news photographs which are published in masses are not such so great. Excluding few national newspapers and magazines, most of the publications in India are not adequately concerned about images’ quality. However, readers or viewers now are quite twitting towards the quality and message conveyed by these photos. So, the concept of ‘quality in photography’ is emerging.”

To fulfill the increasing demand of quality photographs, the Division is revamping their infrastructure, substantially upgrading laboratories and equipments for handling different sorts of photographic production and assignments in black &

white and colour both in conventional system as well as state-of-the-art digital technology. For ensuring instant transmission of digital images from any part of the globe, they have News Photo Network, and for taking photo prints, Canon and Kodak printers are being used. Kodak Professional LED II Printer 20P is operational for large size prints.

To avoid wear & tear and loss of historical negatives and slides of national importance, the Division is focusing on the digitisation of their laboratories and the images. For the purpose, the organisation commissioned Digital Photo Library with cutting-edge technology to store negatives and slides. Processing of the transfer of the images from the conventional picture to the Digital Photo Library is constantly in progress and so far, they have converted around eight lakh conventional images into digital ones to place in the systems. For proper preservation of images, the organisation has created temperature and humidity protected ambiance and for rather safety they maintain double storage systems: one for back-up purpose and another for day-to-day use.

Under the ‘National Centre of Photography’ scheme, the Division has undergone to further enrich photo archive and open a vista for cross-referencing of collected images. For the purpose, they are acquiring old photographs of archival value (at least fifty years old) related to freedom movement, pre and post-independence, old/heritage building, landscape, land and people, etc.

Photo Division also takes responsibilities to make people cognisant of the growth and development of the country through their vast photographic archives. “To accomplish feats in photography as per our mission, we are insisting not only on strengthening our own capacity but also encouraging photographers for imbibing values in this awesome art of representation. For the purpose, apart from National Photo Contest, orientation programmes, workshops and seminars are organised all over the country, and presently North East Region is being focused. On trial basis this year, we have also started a short-term photography course in association with Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC), New Delhi,” stated Sengupta.

The organisation photographically serves not only India’s institutions but also provides know-how help to the neighbouring nations as per the direction of Government of India, and so far, they have assisted Afghanistan, Bhutan, Maldives and Sri Lanka.

“To bridge the gape in availability of quality images and the pictorial requirements of publications, Photo Division has relentlessly been endeavouring smartly utilising its present strengths,” concluded Sengupta.