PHOTO - SHOP

 Photo - Shop

It was a quiet Tuesday afternoon when Advait walked into "Dorabji's Photo World" a small photo studio tucked inside the lanes of Girgaum between a bakery and a tailor shop. The place had an old-world charm. Faded portraits of couples, mustached sethjis and family pictures adorned the walls, a dusty camera stand in the corner, and a faint smell of old photographic paper and photo chemicals lingering in the air. He had come to get a passport-size photo clicked, nothing fancy, just something which he needed for some documents.

As he waited for the photographer to set up the camera, his eyes wandered to a laminated rate card pinned to the wall. It read:

50 for 12
80 for 12
110 for 12

The numbers were the same in quantity, but the prices puzzled him. Curious, he turned to the photographer and asked, “What’s the difference between these three?”

The photographer, Dorabji  - a man in his late fifties with a kind face and a calm voice, smiled and explained, “The first one is a normal photo - just as you are. The second one includes basic touch-ups - blemishes removed, skin tone lightened. And the third one, well, that’s the deluxe version. We use filters, AI sharpening, and effects to make you look... perfect.”

Advait pondered and chuckled softly and said, “I’ll go with the first one. Just the normal one.” Dorabji raised an eyebrow, a little surprised. “Most people go for the second or third. Are you sure?” he asked. “You’ll look much better in those.”

Advait nodded, still smiling. “Hmmm yeah, I’m sure. You know, just looking at that rate card made me think... this is exactly how we live our lives now. We are constantly upgrading ourselves  -  not for us, but for others.”

Dorabji paused, intrigued. Advait continued, “We post pictures on social media with filters, with perfect lighting, perfect smiles, perfect backgrounds, perfect settings, everything just perfect. But inside, we are not always happy. Sometimes we are broken, sometimes we are tired. But we hide it all behind a filter, just like that third option.”

Advait leaned back in the chair and sighed. “We buy the latest phones, the flashiest cars, we go to fancy restaurants - not because we really want to, but because we want others to see it. We want to be seen, to be liked, to be admired. Even when we travel, it’s more about the pictures than the experience. It's about the likes and comments.”

Dorabji nodded slowly, his expression thoughtful. “That’s true,” he said. “People come here for wedding shoots, birthday shoots, even baby shoots, and half the time, they’re more concerned about how it will look on Instagram rather than how they actually feel in the moment.”

Advait smiled again, but this time it was tinged with sadness. “Exactly. We are not making memories anymore. We are manufacturing moments. We are not living for ourselves, we are living to impress a world that doesn’t even know who we really are.”

There was a long silence between them. The only sound was the soft hum of the studio lights. Dorabji said, “Dikra, You know, people hardly ever say that to me. Most people just want to look better. But you... you want to be real.”

Advait nodded. “Yeah. I think it’s time we stop hiding behind filters. It's time we start accepting ourselves as we are, our flaws and all. Life is too short to be lived for someone else’s approval.”

The camera clicked. A simple photo. No edits. No enhancements. Just a man, as he was - real, raw, and quietly brave in a world obsessed with appearances.

Photoshop.....

"Where we edit pictures - and sometimes, our lives."