Life in lens: C Sekar is a shutterbug with a difference

Chennai, Feb 18 (UNI) A man is known by the company he keeps. But C Sekar of this bustling city is famous for the 'eye he keeps' for he is a shutterbug with a difference.

He calls his apartment 'Camera House', for most of the living space is taken up by antique cameras.

Sekar's 'take' with the lens began 28 years ago and now his collection stands at an enviable 3,000 cameras...in perfect working condition.

Sitting in a room spooled with vintage photographic equipment, Sekar pickup a viewfinder on an unusual looking camera. ''This is the aperture...the first camera which I brought from a photographer in Calutta (now Kolkata) for Rs 6,000. Today it is an antique with a value of more than Rs one lakh,'' Sekar told UNI.

His 'picturesque' collection includes cameras from Britain, the US, Switzerland and France.

Sekar shows a small Minox lighter-cum-camera which can click a picture even as you light up a cigarette. The pixels look perfect and draws you to an era conspicous by its rich and hued culture and a sense for finer things in life.

''This cigar lighter can double up as a camera. It can be folded and easily concealed in your shirt pocket. This is called a match box camera.

But since this camera works only with an eight mm film, I have to cut the 16 mm in the market to use it,'' he says.

His fetish for the camera box has earned have fans.

''At least five college students come to my house everyday to study my camera. It helps them understand how things were some years ago - before technology came in. I want to preserve them all in a museum for posterity,'' Sekar says.

Even as you focus your 'lens' on the camera with fine grains of rosewood and brass fittings, Sekar shoots in ''I am not here to make money. These are my life time investments,'' he says.

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