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| July 1939. Kids celebrating Janmashtami dressed traditionally with ornaments. |
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| "Shooting for over 75 years now, legendary photographer Pranlal Patel has been witness to the evolution of photography in India. " |
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 | | April 1951.Before the use of cement, lime was used for construction. Women are thumping tares with mallets while singing folk songs. |
He began his career with a Box camera in 1932. Photography started out as a keen hobby for him. In the 1930’s, when he began, he used to teach for a living between 10 am and 5 pm and shoot in the remaining time.
 | | May 1940. I visited Kashmir in 1940. Here are Shri Jawaharlal Nehru, Abdul Gafar Khan and Sheikh Abdullah at Shalimar Gardens,. |
Soon, his photographs started appearing in Kumar magazine, whose editors Shri Ravishankar Rawal, Bachubhai Rawat and Harinarayan Acharya turned into his mentors. As he persisted, taking on darkroom jobs to supplement this interest, he gained a reputation of being a good freelancer. His works started appearing in magazines like Chitralekha, Times of India, Illustrated Weekly of India, and Your Health. Along with getting his images published, he soon started winning awards as well. In fact, he won a gold medal at The International Photographic Salon of Japan in 2001 and 2004; one for a picture that was taken in 1937.
 | | January 1943. When bicycles reached villages for the first time as a mode of transport, they were a topic of much discussion between villagers. |
Pranlal Patel gives a sense of dignity and respect to whatever he captured on film. He mainly selected village life as his subject and most of his images move you even today with their reflection of the harsh realities and poverty of rural India. Yet there is an innocence and optimism present in most of them and Patel’s involvement with the Indian freedom struggle and its hope for a better future can be seen even in his photos.
Patel is nostalgic about his early days. He reminisces about how he used to wash giant prints in the Sabarmati River and when a film roll cost Re 1. Today, with photography becoming digital, he feels that one does not need an in-depth knowledge of the subject to succeed. It seems like you can get by with a virtual click and go.
 | | March 1933. The way to Madangopal Haveli from Raipur Chakala in Ahmedabad in the rains. The Haveli of Shree Ambalal Sarabhai is on the right. |
The exposure, colours, frames… everything can be redone through the computer. “Back then,” he states, “one just couldn’t afford to go wrong. Creativity has been sidelined by technology. All said and done it is the person behind the camera, and not the medium.”
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