Photo studios, all but a dying breed with smartphones equipped with high-resolution cameras present in almost every hand, have suddenly been resuscitated by an unlikely saviour.
The ongoing yet contentious special intensive revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in Bengal has given hard-copy pictures a new lease of life.
Suddenly, demand for hard copies of photos — two copies of which per elector has to be submitted with the SIR enumeration forms — has skyrocketed in every corner of the state.
Many photo studios set up in the late 1980s and 1990s had adapted to the vanishing demand for hard-copy photographs with new ancillary arrangements such as photocopy machines and computer systems for online form filling.
Hardly anyone came to click pictures in the studios in the past decade or so, owners said.
"I opened my studio in 1987, and photography was a very profitable business until the late 2000s. However, it eventually died as smartphones replaced the need for cameras. In the past few years, it was at its worst," said Partha Pratim Das Biswas, owner of a studio near Hooghly’s Chinsurah railway station.
Like other studio owners, Das Biswas was also forced to purchase computer systems and printers, mainly to serve customers coming for online form-filling for jobs and scholarships.
As very few people would visit the studio, photography had become a secondary business for photo studio owners like him.
In the past 10 days, however, Das Biswas is seeing a big boom in the photography business.
"The business has surged with the SIR. It has doubled and the revenue coming from photography is exceeding whatever I used to earn from online form filling or making photocopies," beamed the studio owner.
Two copies of stamp- or passport-sized photographs are required for the enumeration forms. They are also mandatory.
The enumeration process in Bengal began on November 4 and will continue for one month, ending on December 4.
In peri-urban and rural areas of Bengal, the rate for photography, along with six copies of the photograph, ranges from ₹50 to ₹80. In some places, it goes up to ₹100, too.
Multiple studio owners said that before the SIR process began, the demand for passport or stamp-sized photos had become occasional, mainly during school and college admission periods.
Most studio owners are now hired for photography on different occasions, especially weddings, anniversaries or birthday parties.
"Rest of the time, the photography business remains completely dull," said a studio owner in Bolpur, Birbhum.
The ongoing SIR has brought him some cheer. "Earlier, only four or five people used to come with such requirements. Now, at least 40 people visit daily. So, this sudden revival of the dead business is good for me," the Bolpur studio owner, who didn't want to be named, added.
Rupai Nandi, another studio owner from Bankura's Amarkanan, said that the demand was more in rural areas compared to urban pockets.
"Once the SIR process began, dozens of people started coming to me for passport or stamp-sized photos. Now, business has doubled or even tripled in the past few days," said Nandi.
Nandi added that the demand was so high now that he had to purchase photo paper in bulk to meet it.
"The business, which was once dead and had forced me to look for alternatives, suddenly became active. In our rural areas, people are usually not ready with official-sized photos. So, the rush is unprecedented in my business experience," added Nandi.
Although the state government has no official data about the number of such small photo studios across Bengal, in any block town, there are around a dozen such shops. Many of these are not primarily photo studios anymore but have diversified into online form fill-up or photocopy and scanning centres.
Studio owners said that though a few customers started visiting their shops before the enumeration process was announced, the real rush began once the distribution of enumeration forms started.
Nandi, however, pointed out that the surge in customers would not last long.
"We know this will continue only for a month, during which people will visit our studios for passport or stamp-sized photographs. Once the SIR ends, the situation will return to normal," said the young businessman.