The orthodontist who built a museum of cameras in Chennai

In 1997, a Chennai-based orthodontist spotted his first dual-lens reflex camera at a flea market in the city, and the invention sparked a lifelong passion. All these decades later, this collection has grown to a collection of approximately 5,800 cameras, earning it the Guinness World Record for the largest camera collection and the most distinctive film camera collection. From rare Polaroid models to box and folding cameras to pocket-sized miniatures, every piece finds its place in the camera museum in Kovalam. Behind this extensive collection, AV Arun has been balancing his hobby with practicing dentistry full-time since the 1990s.

Dr. “I have clearly kept my profession and passion distinct,” says Arun. “Doing dentistry is very important. It helps me live and maintain my life. But what makes it worth living is always my passion.” Dr. Arun’s instinct for collecting was a part of him even before he came to dentistry. It started with bottle caps when I was at school, then turned into miniature perfume bottles and eventually a camera museum.

Dr. Arun with camera | Photo Credit: Special Editing

Cameras from all over the world

Whenever dental conferences take him to other parts of the world, the orthodontist finds himself at local flea markets after work. “I once bought about 40 cameras for a throwaway price in Australia,” he says. “So you will find pieces from all over the world in the museum.”

The precision and patience required by dentistry seem to be reflected seamlessly in the camera world. When asked how he manages to balance the two, he says the answer is simple: “No one is ever too busy.” “After clinic hours, I come home and read about the cameras, clean them, tend to them, sometimes even staying up until 1 a.m.”

Interestingly for someone who is surrounded by thousands of cameras, Dr. Arun himself doesn’t take many photos. “There aren’t many people developing films these days,” he says. “It’s very expensive. But I’m more of a collector than a photographer.”

collector’s eye

Dr. When Arun first started collecting film cameras, there wasn’t much competition, but that changed over time. “Once someone from Chandigargh called me and said he had an all-wooden, British-made camera,” he recalls. “Because it was done that way, the courier wasn’t ideal and I took the train all the way there to bring it myself.” Dating from the 1870s, this camera is one of the oldest cameras in his collection.

“These days, camera collecting is slowly making a comeback among young people as well. And it’s quite true; what is useless to one person can be a treasure to another. Only a true collector can see that.”

To accommodate camera enthusiasts, the camera museum in Kovalam opens only on Sundays and by appointment only. He also visits universities to give talks about the history and mechanics of cameras, because it turns out some passions deserve their own time slot.