Hyderabad: Photography is an exciting and fascinating subject and a boon to the mankind. It can capture in a fleeting moment even what our naked eye cannot record. Photography is one of the most effective means of visual communication and leaves lasting impression more than any other media. With the advent of digital technology, photography is now geared to reach greater heights. Photography has great scope and growth potential in our country. It offers big opportunities to create self employment stated Mr. PVN Moorthy, President of All India Photographic Trade And Industry Association(AIPTIA). Speaking immediately after he was felicitated in a city hotel on Thursday night on the occasion of Photo Expo 2004 being held currently in the city till 12th September. He was feliciated jointly by Villart Photography, organisers of the Photo Expo 2004 and Photography Association of Andhra Pradesh.

Speaking further he added that digital technology is fast catching up in our country. During the last year it is estimated that around 2 million film cameras and approximately 2.5 to 3 lakh digital cameras were sold in India. With the recent drop in prices of digital cameras a significant growth in the sale of these models is expected this year. Further he stated that 250 digital minilabs were sold in India during the year 2003. This is an indication that digital wave is catching up fast in our country, he informed.

Talking about international scenario he said quoting Gernman based research company GfK findings he said approximately 106 million cameras were sold world wide in the last year. Thus recording 13% growth compared to previous year. Over and above this, more than 400 million single use cameras were sold in the same year, which is 5% more than the previous year. Of the 106 million cameras sold, 46% i.e 49 million cameras happened to be digital cameras, amounting to a growth of 61%, Mr. Moorthy informed. He further stated that as against this, in case of analogue(film) cameras sales amounting to 57 million pics, which is 16% decline in its demand. The number of films sold world wide in 2003 is estimated at 2.8 billion, a drop of 5% compared to the previous year i.e 2002.

Informing about the trends in international market, he said there is an increase in popularity of camera phones in the international market, which is very important development, he added. Adding further, he stated particularly in Asian market mobile phones with imaging capability were the fastest growing product group and accounted for the highest proportion of sales among the image capturing devices, he informed.

We have been hearing the decline in sales of analogue cameras, drop in film sales and steep increase in sales of digital cameras. Well, most of these trends really concern only to the developed photographic markets namely USA, Canada, U.K.Europe and Japan. As far as emerging markets like India, Mr. Moorthy said these are still heavily film based markets, experiencing significant growth in analogue cameras and film sales. India is expected to reach the 100 million mark in film sales this year, he summed up.

Photo Expo 2004 is being organised by Villart Photography jointly in association with All India Photographic Trade And Industry Association and city based Solus Media and SV Digital Large Format. The fair will be open till Sunday where 70 exhibitors have been showcasing well over 500 products