In 1988, Radhika Singh set up Fotomedia, the first commercial photo library in North India. Starting out as just a slide library, her firm is now one of Indias best known photographic agencies. With an initial investment of just half a lakh, she now has a turnover of Rs three lakh every month.
I used to be a model in my college days, and thats how I got to know many photographers and advertising agencies. When my husband left for Boston in 1987, I looked for something to do I couldnt go with him since he was on a fellowship to study there. A friend suggested that I act as an agent between photographers and buyers such as ad agencies, press organisations, publishers, even corporate or government organisations. I had also spent a lot of time in libraries, having done a BA in literature, then an MA and M Phil in sociology so I was naturally fascinated by the science of cataloguing.
In 1988, when I was 32, I convinced three family members to pool their finances along with me and began Fotomedia Private Ltd. With Rs 50,000, I rented a small air-conditioned room and filing cabinets, and hired an assistant. We started with the work of eight photographers, and about 6,000 colour slides to catalogue.
From the start, we accepted both stock photos, which sell commercially, and portfolio photos, which are mainly for artistic value. A wide selection was crucial to establish ourselves as a serious business. The photographers needed an agency they could trust to store their photos carefully, and respect copyrights and payments. My personal rapport with various photographers helped a lot here.
In the first year, we made a loss of about Rs 10,000. In the eighties, photographs were not treated as professionally in India as they are today. We had problems with delayed payments and slides that had been damaged by buyers. Photographers were hesitant to entrust their photos to an agency because of these setbacks they often kept their best work themselves, making it harder for us to attract buyers. Despite a commission of 40 per cent on every print sold, we could not break even.
To remedy this, we imposed fines for late payments and damaged slides. If clients did not respond, we took legal action. At any one time, we had about five or six such cases in court. People started taking us seriously. By the end of Fotomedias second year we were actually breaking even. With liberalisation, the demand for visual publicity shot up, and so did our annual turnover; in 1991- 1992, we made a good Rs 22 lakh.
Now I could think about further development. While visiting my husband in the US, I went to Image Media one of the worlds largest photo agencies. There I learnt better techniques of storing and cataloguing slides, which I started implementing in Fotomedia. I also met an NRI in England, Sunil Gupta, who was in charge of administering the UK Arts Council grant to minority communities. In 1989, he asked me to help select work by Indian photographers, for an exhibition that was to tour the UK in 1990. We selected eight photographers for the show, Economy of Signs. For me, it was a significant step in helping to promote Indian photography abroad.
We also made a foray into audio-visual production, after my sister volunteered to help with the script writing (shes a copy writer by profession). Our biggest project was a Rs 9 lakh presentation for the Border Security Force, for their Golden Jubilee in 1990. We have taken on other audio-visual productions as well, on issues like the environment, housing, and population; my background in sociology has really helped here.
As our systems become more efficient, with digital scanning and computerised cataloguing, we can cater to clients across India and across the world. Besides supplying photos to top advertising agencies and news publications here, we also sell to Reuters, Cambridge University Press, Dorling Kindersley, APA Guide Books and many more. Fotomedia has also put 234 pictures on the I Love India website (iloveindia.com).
Now I want to devote more time to promoting photography as an art form. Not as an elite art thats only displayed in museums, but out among the people themselves! So Ive tied up with the Oxford Book Store in Calcutta and FabIndia in Bangalore to hold photo exhibitions this year. Fotomedia also gives grants to promising photographers for shoots that they would like to do in exchange we keep some of their new work to sell on commission.
When I started, I promised my father a turnover of five crore by 2000 AD. With the recession in industry, our financial earnings will be nowhere near that figure! But the rewards from this business are certainly rich it spurs me to keep up with cutting edge visual technology, while discovering exciting new creative talent.
(As told to Seema Nazareth)
