When Samuel Bourne, noted 19th-century photographer, arrived in India in 1863 he was surprised to find that 'at Calcutta it is no uncommon thing to see native portrait establishments'1. When the Photographic Society of Bengal was formed in 1856 its Secretary was an Indian — Baboo Preonath Seth2. When the Archaeological Survey of India was formed in 1861, the assistance of amateur as well as professional photographers was enlisted to record buildings and sites. Hurrichand Chintamon, P. C. Mukherji, Shivashanker Narayen, Muccoond Ramchundra and Lala Deen Dayal were among them, all of them Indians3.

  • 1. S. BOURNE, 'Photography in the East', The British Journal of Photography (1st july 1863), p. 268.
  • 2. Journal of the Photographic Society of Bengal, Vol. 1, Part 2 (1857).
  • 3. R. DESMOND, '19th-century Indian photographers in India', History of Photography, Vol. 1, No. 4 (October 1977), p. 316.