1907, First Coloured Photographs of Vizag

As the world marked World Photography Day 2025 four days ago, continuing the celebrations into World Photography Week, Vizag has a unique story to tell. Long before modern cameras and digital edits, photographers here were already experimenting with colour. From the pioneering work of C Moonesamy Mudaliar, the city’s first black,-and-white photographer to the iconic hand-coloured postcards of Rathnam & Co in the 1910s, these images not only documented the city’s history but also introduced the charm of Vizag and Waltair to the world. In this article, Vizag heritage writer, John Castellas, brings the past to focus with these old photos, and gives their work some much-needed exposure.

On World Photography Day and Week 2025, it is opportune to recall the first coloured photographs of Vizag.

The first photographer in Vizag was C Moonesamy Mudaliar, who produced the first black and white photographs of Vizag in about 1905 (Read article: Family of Photographers who captured the history of Vizag), but it was his two sons-in-law, brothers partnered under the name “Rathnam & Co,” who produced the first coloured photographs of Vizag in about 1915. 

Rathnam & Co was run by M Doraiswamy, who initially had a studio near HMS Bakery in One Town, and M Natarajan, who had a studio near Poorna Market on the Vizag Main Road. 

In the early 1900, people were amazed at the photographic process that could record aspects of their daily life in exquisite detail, yet failed to record the same in colour. Early photographers took the matter into their own hands and began to add colour to their monochrome images. They passed the photographs to artists who, with skill and colour, gave the images a life-like and natural appearance.

Credit for the first hand-coloured photograph of Vizag should be accorded to C Moonesamy Mudaliar. He must have pioneered this process for his family to follow. It is most likely that both Doraiswamy and Natarajan learnt their photographic and artistic skills from their father-in-law.

Rathnam & Co pioneered the mass production of monochrome and colour postcards of Vizag and Waltair for the growing number of visitors who were fascinated by the landscape and pleasant weather of Vizag and Waltair compared to the bigger cities in India. Rathnam & Co produced these images for their series of hand-coloured postcards.

Commercial quality colour photography was not developed until the 1930’s when Agfa (Germany) and Kodak (USA) started to develop colour images. Through the early 1900’s, Waltair was also a popular scene for Rathnam hand-coloured postcards as the wealthier folk were frequent customers who wrote to friends and family around the world, singing praises of this little-known part of India.

Also in the early 1900’s, the Bengal Nagpur Railway (BNR) established itself at Waltair as a hub for the Calcutta – Madras East Coast railway traffic. Tourism was very much a part of their business model and promoting Vizag and Waltair with postcards was a means of commercial advertising. In the old days, BNR postcards with colour images of Rathnam photos were sold in Vizag shops and on railway platforms. 

Many Vizag families have a deep commercial relationship with the development of the town over several generations. This is equally true of the first family of Vizag photographers, starting with C Moonesamy Mudaliar, his sons-in-law who were Rathnam & Co, and his grandsons Pondamalli Rajagopal Narayanaswami and PR Srinivas, who currently live in Dabagardens. Together with sibling R Vijay Kumar, these family members still carry on the family photographic traditions as freelance photographers in Vizag.

The author has digitally archived complete sets of Mudaliar, Rathnam and BNR monochrome and old coloured photos of Vizag and Waltair. He will make them readily available to any Vizag institution that promotes the heritage of the town.

Written by John Castellas whose family belonged to Vizag for 5 generations. Educated at St Aloysius, migrated to Melbourne, Australia in 1966, former General Manager Engineering at Boeing & Qantas Airways, in retirement Lecturers in Aviation Management at Swinburne University and is a Vizag aficionado. 

John authors heritage articles for YoVizag and Waltair Times and has contributed to Coffee Table Books for the Waltair Club and Andhra Medical College. He can be contacted at [email protected]

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