Exploring historic Indian photography

In a recent feature, BBC highlights the legacy of historic photography in India, showcasing how early photographers captured the essence of the subcontinent during a transformative period.  

A new exhibition in Delhi highlights a remarkable collection of early photographs depicting India's monuments.  

These images from the 1850s and 1860s capture a time of experimentation as new technologies were introduced and explored.   British India was the first country outside Europe to establish professional photographic studios, and many of its pioneering photographers gained international acclaim.

They not only innovated and evolved pictorial techniques but also introduced new artistic traditions that influenced a wide range of audiences, from scholars to tourists.   While many prominent British photographers’ works reflect a colonial viewpoint, those of their Indian counterparts offer a different perspective, revealing aspects of the narrative that are often overlooked.  

The exhibition, titled "Histories in the Making," features photographs sourced from the archives of DAG, a prominent art firm, and underscores the pivotal role of photography in shaping the understanding of India’s historical narrative. They also played a significant role in advancing field sciences, building knowledge networks, and intertwining the histories of politics, fieldwork, and academic disciplines such as archaeology.   "These photographs document an era when the British Empire was solidifying its dominance in India. They were used to assert control and to display the empire's accomplishments to audiences in Europe," explains Ashish Anand, CEO of DAG.   One notable example is a photograph of the Elephanta Caves taken by William Johnson and William Henderson.

This UNESCO World Heritage site consists of a series of temples primarily dedicated to the Hindu deity Shiva, located in Maharashtra.   William Johnson began his photographic career in Bombay (now Mumbai) around 1852, initially as a daguerreotypist—a process that produced a single image on a metal plate. In the mid-1850s, he teamed up with William Henderson, a commercial studio owner in Bombay, to form the partnership Johnson & Henderson.   Together, they produced The Indian Amateur’s Photographic Album, a monthly publication from 1856 to 1858.  

Linnaeus Tripe, who arrived in India in 1839 at age 17 as a member of the Madras regiment of the East India Company, began his photographic endeavors shortly after. In December 1854, he captured images in Halebidu, Belur, and Shravanabelagola. His work was showcased in an 1855 exhibition in Madras (now Chennai), where he received a first-class medal for the "best series of photographic views on paper."   In 1857, Tripe was appointed as the official photographer for the Madras Presidency, where he documented various sites including Srirangam, Tiruchirapalli, Madurai, Pudukkottai, and Thanjavur.

Over 50 of these photographs were featured at the Photographic Society of Madras exhibition the following year, where they were acclaimed as the finest exhibits.   John Murray, a surgeon in the Bengal Indian Medical Service, began his photography career in India in the late 1840s. Appointed as a civil surgeon in Agra in 1848, he dedicated the next 20 years to studying Mughal architecture in Agra and nearby cities such as Sikandra and Delhi. In 1864, he produced an extensive series of images documenting the Taj Mahal. Throughout his career, Murray utilized paper negatives and the calotype process—a method for making "positive" prints from a single negative—to create his photographs.  

Thomas Biggs, who arrived in India in 1842 and served as a captain in the Bombay Artillery, began photographing soon after. He became a founding member of the Photographic Society of Bombay in 1854. Following his participation in the Society's inaugural exhibition in January 1855, he was appointed government photographer for the Bombay Presidency, tasked with capturing architectural and archaeological sites. Biggs photographed locations including Bijapur, Badami, Aihole, Pattadakal, Dharwad, and Mysore before returning to military duties in December 1855. 

He also explored the calotype process to produce "positive" prints from negatives.   Felice Beato, a prominent war and travel photographer of the 19th century, arrived in India in 1858 to document the aftermath of the 1857 mutiny, a major rebellion against British rule often considered the first war of independence. Although the mutiny had largely subsided by the time Beato arrived, he focused on documenting its immediate aftermath. His extensive work captured the destruction in cities heavily affected by the uprising, such as Lucknow, Delhi, and Kanpur. Noteworthy among his images are those of Sikandar Bagh, Kashmiri Gate, and the Kanpur barracks, with his stark photograph of the hanging of sepoys standing out for its raw depiction.  

Beato, a commercial photographer, sought to widely distribute his work and spent over two years photographing iconic Indian sites. In 1860, he departed for China to document the Second Opium War.   Andrew Neill, a Scottish doctor in the Indian Medical Service based in Madras, was also a photographer who chronicled ancient monuments for the Bombay Presidency. His calotypes were featured in the 1855 Photographic Society of Madras exhibition, and in March 1857, 20 of his architectural views of Mysore and Bellary were displayed by the Photographic Society of Bengal.

Neill also captured Lucknow after the 1857 revolt.   Edmund Lyon, a former British Army officer who served from 1845 to 1854 and briefly as governor of Dublin District Military Prison, arrived in India in 1865. He set up a photographic studio in Ooty, southern India, and worked commercially until 1869. Lyon achieved notable recognition for his photographs of the Nilgiris mountain range, which were exhibited at the 1867 Paris Exposition. Accompanied by his wife, Anne Grace, he also documented archaeological and architectural sites in southern India, producing a significant collection of 300 photographs from places like Trichinopoly, Madurai, Tanjore, Halebid, Bellary, and Vijayanagara.  

Samuel Bourne, known for his breathtaking images of India, particularly from his Himalayan expeditions between 1863 and 1866, is celebrated as one of the foremost 19th-century travel photographers. A former bank clerk, Bourne left his job in 1857 to pursue photography full-time. Upon arriving in Calcutta (now Kolkata) in 1863, Samuel Bourne soon relocated to Shimla and teamed up with William Howard to establish the Howard & Bourne studio. Later that year, Charles Shepherd joined them, leading to the formation of 'Howard, Bourne & Shepherd.' 

After Howard's departure, the studio was renamed 'Bourne & Shepherd,' a name that would become renowned. Bourne undertook three significant Himalayan expeditions, exploring extensive areas including Kashmir and the rugged Spiti region. His 1866 photographs of the Manirung Pass, situated at over 18,600 feet (5,669 meters), received widespread acclaim. In 1870, Bourne returned to England and sold his shares in the business, but Bourne & Shepherd continued its operations in Calcutta and Simla. 

The studio, which later captured the impressive Delhi Durbar of 1911—a grand event featuring 20,000 soldiers parading before the Emperor and Empress—boasted a remarkable 176-year history before closing in 2016.