Photo Wallahs: An Encounter with Photography in Mussoorie, a North Indian Hill Station (1992), by Judith and David MacDougall, is an ethnographic film about professional photographers just a few years prior to the digital age. Old school studio photographers are rightly celebrated in the film, which not only explores traditional portraiture but also observes the modern-day commercialism of tourists donning costumes for souvenir pictures (middle still). Echoes of British colonialism alternate with foretastes of two future vulgarities: color photography and wedding videography. This visually complex and beautiful film is notable for its total avoidance of subtitles (during hard-to-hear English language conversations) or narration.
