Kolkata: One of the oldest and longest-running photograph studio in the world, the 176-year-old 'The Bourne and Shepherd' studio in Kolkata finally pulled down its shutters on Thursday.
According to media reports, 25 years ago in February 1991 , the studio was ransacked in fire and could not manage to survive the changes brought about by the arrival of digital format in the new era, forcing it into perennial losses.
Prem Shankar Prasad, 50, who has been working in the studio for more than 30 years, told a leading daily, “We lost everything in that fire. We had the finest collection of photographs, all went up in smoke,”
"Bourne & Shepherd was once an important landmark of the city. You would see an assortment of imported vehicles parked outside the building through the 1940s to the 1980s,” said P Sarkar of Metropolitan Photo studio, which is right next door, as reported by the leading daily.
There was a time when Bourne & Shepherd was the most successful commercial firm in 19th- and early 20th-century India, with agencies all over India and outlets in London and Paris.
