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| Sunday, 10 November 2002 |
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Donalds Studio turned 60 in September this year. Kanil Senarath spoke to Donald Wijayaratna founder of Donalds Studio and the doyen of studio photography in Sri Lanka. Q: Mr. Wijayaratna how did you, pardon the cliche, develop an interest in photography? A: It was in the late 1920's that my father decided to venture in to photography. As a little boy I remember watching in amazement as images appeared on blank paper! Our first dark room was under a tall bed that had been covered on all sides and my siblings and I used to creep in to watch the images appearing. That's how I became interested in photography. Q: When did you start Donalds Studio? A: In mid 1942 shortly after the Japanese air raids on Ceylon, as our country was called then, I decided that photography was a subject I knew well and I thought I could make a decent living out of it. Donalds Studio opened for business around September 1942. Q: What were the challenges you faced? A: There were many obstacles. It was during World War II. So raw stocks were extremely hard to come by. New equipment was very expensive. It was also a time when the better known studios were British owned and staffed as were most of the companies involved in imports. So things were not that easy for a young Ceylonese! Q: But you survived and made it to the top how do you explain that in terms of what you just told me? A: Hard work and determination! But I had more than my share of luck as well. For example when I started out an Indian trader who had photographic stock was returning to India due to the war. He gave me his entire stock on credit. I paid him in instalments each time he visited Ceylon. Then I managed to purchase a carefully used camera from a Ceylonese army officer for the then princely sum of seventy five rupees! This too I paid in two instalments. A Britisher, Mr. Cotton who was at Millers agreed to supply me with photographic stock after initially refusing to do so. He later told me that he softened his stance because my manner reminded him of his rebel son! I took it as a compliment! Q: Tell us about the sixty years... A: Well sixty years is a long time... The beginning was the most exciting and challenging time. From nothing we built our name to be the best known in the photographic business in our country. This I attribute to hard work determination, maintaining quality, a capable wife and a dedicated and talented staff. By the 1950's Donalds was well known.
The 60's and 70's were totally ours. This led to an unhealthy monopolistic situation. We grew complacent and also rigid in our ways. With the liberalisation of imports in the late 70's for the first time since the 1950's we began to notice competitors. We took up the challenge made changes and still retain the largest share of studio wedding photography for a single institution. Our quality in my opinion is yet unmatched. Q: Where is the business right now? What of the future? A: The business of studio photography in Sri Lanka is still very healthy. Our people believe in having a formal studio wedding photograph in their home. They want a photograph for posterity as much as a reflection of their lifestyle. Our type of customer is also very loyal. We have handled some families for three generations! The fourth generation will be with us very soon! Some People have opted for location photographs to save time. Yet as time goes by they will regret not going to a good studio for a well posed quality photograph. Now to answer your question about the future... Technology and style are rapidly changing and those who cannot keep up will lose out. We also plan on taking Donalds to the people. All these years people had to come to us in Maradana. Now the world is more service oriented and customer friendly. So we have decided to open fully fledged studios in several areas. Kandy is the first of them. Q: Why a branch after 60 years? A: Donalds Kandy is a complete studio in its own right. When one says "branch" it implies that something is lacking from the main operation. As nothing is lacking it will be known as Donalds, Studio Kandy and not as a branch. Why after 60 years... well why not? In the past Donalds Colombo has had bookings on "Nekath" (auspicious) days from as far away as Tangalle. We have had hundreds if not thousands of bookings from Kandy over the years. But like I said before, things have changed. In the days gone by people had to come to Colombo for almost everything.
Today Kandy has several excellent hotels and reception halls. It has very good shopping facilities. Add to this the traffic congestion and travel time involved from Kandy to Colombo. So it no longer makes sense to travel a great distance simply to take your wedding photograph even though people still would like to have the Donalds touch. Q: Are you saying that the rest of Sri Lanka and Kandy in particular does not have good studios? A: I am just saying that Donalds Photographs have a very special touch! With Donalds moving to Kandy the standard of photography in the region will automatically get better. Most studios will try to emulate the market leader and trend setter. Things will be more competitive. Studio photography in the entire Central Province will become more popular. With this situation both customer and studio will emerge winners. Q: In your mind you seem to have already captured Kandy... A: Far from it. Though positive thinking helps! Kandy has well established studios. They have a loyal clientele just like Donalds has in Colombo. So its no easy task. But wherever we go there are three points in our favour. One is that we already have a customer base that is those who have used our services in Colombo, second is the special Donalds touch I spoke of earlier and third is the fact that there is plenty of work for studios that deliver quality. Q: What about pricing? Donalds photographs are rumoured to cost a lot... A: Thats a myth. I can name at least a couple of studios and several freelance photographers who charge more than Donalds. Our photographs are very good and reasonably priced.
Q: As a final question tell me the greatest difference between the time you started photography and now. A: In one word... Technology! In my fathers time we used glass plates to capture images. That is glass panes coated with chemicals. This was replaced by film. I never thought that film will be replaced in my lifetime. Yet today we capture high quality digital images without film. Silver halide or the conventional darkroom wet process photography that we have learnt to respect is being turned on its head by digital imaging which with a little more development will essentially be the future of photography. |
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| Produced by Lake House |
In Kandy and the other cities we will follow established pricing
practices. We will not jeopardise the established pricing structure in the
region because no one will benefit from that. However we will deliver
greater value for money to our customers.
