Decades of capturing history one frame at a time

Long before digital sensors and instant cloud uploads revolutionized the Press, capturing history for The Hindu across undivided Andhra Pradesh was an endurance sport.

It was defined by the pungent smell of darkroom chemicals in dimly lit hotel rooms, tight deadlines, and an unyielding commitment to truth, recalls former Chief News Photographer H. Satish.

From the quiet beginnings of the Hyderabad edition in 1976 — when senior journalists relied on State public relations photos and freelance shots — the newspaper’s visual narrative shifted radically in 1990.

The department was started by photo editor S. Kodandaraman who came from then Madras with two cameras and handed them over to Mr. H. Satish. The number of photographers gradually increased over the years as the city edition got prominence with more pages. It was an opportunity for the staff photojournalists to transform the city and regional reportage capturing the pivotal political moments, changes in the city landscapes, the quiet rhythm of daily life and human tragedies, among others.

Whether in documenting the aftermath of the Latur earthquake, exposing raw human realities like child labour, or filing breaking images amidst citywide curfews, naxalite shoot-outs, the visual team anchored the newsroom.

Field reporting in the pre-digital era demanded raw physical grit. Photojournalists navigated assignments carrying darkroom kits into makeshift hotel setups. They processed negatives manually, rushing against time to transmit images via standalone fax machines over single telephone lines – often sending the solitary photograph that would inform the nation the next morning.

During moments of extreme crisis, like the catastrophic 2005 Valigonda train collision, photojournalists rode two-wheelers through flooded terrain, joining rescue operations while securing historic visual evidence under torrential rains. The team had noted news photographers like P.V. Sivakumar, S. Gajendran, Mohd. Yousuf, K. Ramesh Babu and others who served the organisation for years with aplomb.

Even as the cameras got transformed into SLRs followed by the digital cameras, the photojournalists got an additional job of shooting videos and within no time, our team has been straddling both still photos and videography for the print/digital editions. We are now a three-member strong team, including G. Ramakrishna, a relatively younger Siddhanth Thakur and stringer photographer Mohd. Arif shooting from Sangareddy.

(nagara.gopal@thehindu.co.in)