The Photographic Society of Madras, established in Madras, was founded in 1857 by Dr. Alexander Hunter, who was the driving force behind the Madras School of Industrial Arts. This Society elected as its first President, Hon. Walter Elliot, a member of the Governor's Council, the ever popular Elliot’s beach in Madras is named after him. Because of his proximity to the corridor of power, he soon inducted Lord Harris, the Governor of the “Madras Presidency” as the four Southern States of India were known before Independence and then his successor, Sir Charles Trevelyn as members of the society. Indeed, the roster of the society in the 1850’s used to read like the who's who of the Madras European elite of the times. Army men and civilians alike vied with each other in joining the society in large numbers. The society met regularly in the premises of the School of Industrial Arts.

With his dynamism, Dr. A. Hunter thought of organizing a photographic exhibition every year, this soon tended to take on the character of an International exhibition, because of extensive participation from various countries.

The reports on these exhibitions and of the Proceedings of the Society were regularly published in the Madras Journal of Literature and Science. It is rewarding to go through these reports to understand and assess the amount of photography that was being done in the Presidency. Every process of photography which was evolving rapidly in those early days was being attempted and practiced by the members. Thus, we see that Stereo-photography was getting very popular and enterprising young men like Lieut. J. Mitchell started doing photomicrography even with the primitive equipment then at their disposal.

There were many outstanding photographers in those days, but special mention should be made of the ones that won awards in the Society's exhibitions, like Captain Linnaeus Tripe, W. E. Cochrane, Dr. Neill, Captain Greenlaw and Captain Girdlestone.

Captain Tripe distinguished himself further by photographing the architecture of Madurai, Tiruchirapalli, Thanjavur, Thalavadi, Pudukottai and Rayakottai and publishing neat volumes (1856) in which actual photographs were 'tipped' in and along with descriptive text by eminent people like Rev. G. U. Pope, Rev. W Tracey, Norman and Boswell.

It is of great interest to us that his assistant Thiru C, lyahsawmy (sic) was a talented photographer, who won acclaim in the Society's exhibitions. Unfortunately, the 'images' by this early Indian Photographer are not available today.

When, due to the relocation and passing-on of it office bearers, interest in the Society waned, a new set of enthusiasts revitalized activities and renamed the Society as the Madras Amateur Photographic Society in the mid 1880s. Successive Governors of Madras, viz. Lord Wenlock, Sir Arthur Elibank Havelock, and Indian princes like the Maharajah of Vizianagaram were patrons of this society.

The driving force of the Society at that time was Elias Frederick Evans Dunsterville, the auditor of the Madras and Southern Mahratta Railways. Possibly because of this, there were a good number of Railwaymen on the membership list. It was remarkable too that in this Society there were many eminent medical men displaying keen interest, including the Surgeons Major Generals De Fabek and Sibthorpe and a young Surgeon Lieut C. Giffard. Major J. L. Vangeyzel, the Chemical Examiner to the Government of Madras took charge of the Society's Journal as its Editor.

The Society went into a decline with the First World War in 1914 and the call to the battlefield of many enthusiasts. Thiru A. Arunachalam , a young lawyer felt the need to revive the activities of the Society and re-registered the Madras Amateur Photographic Society on 26 October 1932 with Mr. Howard Oakley as its Patron. It later reverted to its original name and continues to be known as the Photographic Society of Madras. The Photographic Society of Madras is proud today to celebrate 150 years of its contributions to Photography .

The founder and the successive office bearers of the Society have strived hard to stamp its presence on the map of the world photography and it is no small tribute to its excellence that the Society has provided two out of the eight Presidents of the Federation of Indian Photography during the past three decades.

The PSM by virtue of its long history and achievements has had numerous affiliations with Photographic Societies and Clubs in India and all over the world including the Royal Photographic Society, London and the Photographic Society of America