Family album

I've decided to put all our family photos here for ease of viewing. This is one of Harini, our younger daughter, obviously enjoying herself with Ashley the cat.

This picture of my wife Dharshani was taken around 2003. We were riding to Kandy and stopped at Kadugannawa Pass.

The motorcycle is an Enfield India 350cc. Unfoftunately, it isn't mine. It belonged to a friend who lent it to me for a publicity trip for the then importer of Indian Enfields to Sri Lanka. 

Girl doing her washing in the Hingurankgoda Canal

The drive from Minneriya to Hingurakgoda is very pleasant. I was going to see an ancient Watadage (circular temple) complex in 1998. The road was narrow with little traffic, bordered by a canal, little houses and a lot of greenery, warm rays of the evening sun falling on leaves and bathers. This schoolgirl was doing her washing and I took her picture. She'd be quite grown up today, I wonder what she's doing now, what kind of job, and whether she still does her washing at the same place.

Camera Canon FTb, 35-200 zoom, fujicolour negative film.

Filming the history of ancient Petra in Jordan

This is one of the oldest photographs in my collection, going back to 1982 or 83. It was taken by Ian Carruthers, a Scottish professor of English at Yarmouk University, Jordan. I was working for the Jordan Times, in Amman, and was asked to write a story about this Spanish television crew making a documentary film about Petra. The man in Arab dress being filmed is Jose, a Spanish professor and playwright. I don't believe this was done before I bought my first camera, as I don't have my own photographs of this event.

Village women in Padaviya

This mother and two daughters were making roof covering out of coconut palm leaves one morning in Padaviya, northeastern Sri Lanka, in 1998 (during the war years). This was a "border village" at that time.
Camera Zenit, with zoom lens. Fujicolour 100 ASA film.

Friend on the beach

This French girl was sitting alone on the beach at Bentota, her holiday spoilt by rain. Perhaps not all alone. Photo taken maybe in 1995. Fuji neopan 100, Zenit camera with zoom lens.

Car, bicycles and interior

One of my 1980s photos. Shows interior of Dharshani's father's furniture shop at Dalugama. Taken with Orwo 80ASA B & W film. Mir 20mm lens. Hallation from light bulbs due fungus in lens.

Walk in the mist

Dharshani was walking in the mist at Hakgala Botanical Gardens. I think image looks ethereal. Taken on fujicolour negative film with Fed Fb rangefinder camera, Industar standard lens

Sunsets in Mexico

These spectacular sunsets were photographed in Mexico by Marion Dubron, a French  history researcher and painter now living and working there. She has titled them urban landscapes. 

About the club

It's very informal. There is no president, secretary, treasurer, no membership fees. I'm the founder, but I firmly believe in the Wikipedia principle. Members can publish their pictures, stories, and edit.

Gabriel Alwis is an old friend who was a jack-of-all-trades at Studio Times, Colombo. We used to print black and white together in his home darkroom. He has given me a lot of old camera accessories and photo gear which I treasure. Now retired, he is undergoing kidney dialysis. As he's still very keen about photography, I want to take him around and shoot pictures with him.

That's how I got the idea for this club. We both use retro equipment. I want to teach my children how to use old cameras and manual focus lenses. This will be a specialist skill in future, like driving very old cars with sliding mesh gear boxes. I've talked to a couple of other friends who were keen amateur photographers at one time, and hope they too, will join. My friend Mayadunne from Kandy is one and he's very interested.

All of us have to do this amongst various problems, including finding the time and money, in a country with raging inflation for the past five years and little public interest in this kind of thing. We have no axes to grind and none of us are famous photographers. Who cares? I'm already enjoying myself to the hilt, and look forward to our first outing to the Colombo zoo this Friday!

Night scenes during Buddhist Vesak festival

Taken during May 2011 Vesak festival. I hadn't done any serious photography (serious = roll film + hard work) for at least two years, and wanted to check my skills as well as quality of old film in the fridge. Taken with Fujuicolour Superia 1600 ASA negative film out of date by four years and 10 months, without colour correction filters. Prints done at commercial lab without any colour cast correction.


Camera Asahi Pentax Spotmatic SP1000 SLR with MIR 20mm lens at F 3.5 and F4 shutter speeds from 1/8 to 1/30th

Street scene, rainy day, Colombo

One of my favourite photos. It was taken with a cheap, old zoom, which added to the picture's rain-created fuzziness. In the background, you can see the front of the Borella municipal supermarket building.

Asahi Pentax Spotmatic SP1000, nondescript 35-200 zoom lens, Fuji neopan 100, F 3.5 at 1/60

 Tamil Fisherman on the Pasikudah beach, eastern Sri Lanka. This was taken in 1998, with the civil war raging on, and the beach was frequented by both the army and Tamil rebels even though there was an army camp less than one km away.
Canon FTb, FD 28mm, Fujicolour 100 ASA

Shipwreck, Kinross

One of my oldest surviving photos. Only part of this wrecked ship can be seen now due to massive sea erosion along the coastline opposite Kinross Club, Wellawatte. The year was probably 1985, and the dark smudge on top is a burn mark made while printing.

Camera has to be a Canon, can't remember other details.

Red Fort, New Delhi, 2000 AD
Canon FTb, FD 28mm, Fuji neopan 100

My wife Dharshani, taken by me six years ago (Sorry, the photo needs to be cleaned!)
Canon FTb, FD28mm, Fuji neopan 100

Macro -- red ants

This was taken with a Canon FTb SLR using a Fujinon F 3.5 macro with M42 thread on Fujicolour 400ASA negative film. I think the magnification was about 2X.

About myself

I am a writer and photographer. I started doing both around the same time, in the early eighties. I tried to make a living from photography (not successful) and worked briefly as a photojournalist. Since 1996, I've made a living as a journalist. In addition, I have written several novels. Around that time, I began my own documentary photography project, photographing the changing face of Colombo and ways of life. After being inactive for the past five years, I'm back to photography again now in 2011.

Since many Sri Lankans discard their old analog cameras, this is an attempt to change that trend. Hence the title, Retroheliographers. But things have changed. I began using compact digital cameras (such as an early Canon 3.8 megapixel camera Sony Cybershot) but my mainstay was still an SLR. After my colour film processing lab closed down years ago, I bought an old Nikon D90 and got serious about digital photography. I now have a Canon 5D MarkIII and Canon 600D.

I'd like to resume film photography as an art form, but circumstances don't allow this right now. But I'm keeping my Canon FTb and Asahi Pentax Spotmatic SLRs and Fed 5b rangerfinder in working order, and will get back to it when things are right.

It's a pleasure to be using old manual lenses with the two DSLRs! 

It's hard to explain why I stuck with photography amidst so many difficulties. I have also accumulated a body of photographic work that looks better with age. Places change, people change, you need to record these changes. This is what I love doing. I'm into my fourth decade in photography, and I believe I have at least two more to go!

Stay with me.