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Kochi's photographers, whether professional or amateur, have very likely interacted with Tradelinks Ventures Private Ltd; the well known camera store at Padma Junction on M.G.Road. K.N.Suryanarayanan started Tradelinks with an aim to reach out to the photography community in Cochin and neighboring areas. Four decades later, when in 2007 his son started the Pixetra brand of retail camera stores, the small family-business widened its focus to include the entire country.

Srikantan Suryanarayanan's brain child, Pixetra, today has six outlets in three cities (Hyderabad and Bangalore, besides Kochi) and is probably the country's only organized retail store for cameras, camcorders and hobby optics like binoculars and telescopes. "By end of 2009 the Pixetra Chain will have six more outlets. But the real reach will be our web initiatives," he says.

Srikantan explains, "In keeping with our mission to improve the whole camera-owning experience rather than just enable customers to buy a camera, www.pixetra.com is conceived as three linked portals. The e-store forms the first portal - a large catalog of equipment, accessories, books and boutique items form the store which is complete with search engine, shopping cart, and payment gateway. Analyzing choices, comparing models, looking for features and finally, buying a camera from anywhere in the country is all just a mouse-click from the comfort of your home.

"Soon we will have a printing lab within your reach. Our website's second module, the e-prints service portal, is getting ready. Upload photo-files from your digital camera to our website and in a few days receive prints, photo books, enlargements and more fun stuff couriered direct to your home. We have tied up with HP for fulfillment of our orders and the quality is truly cutting edge. Our customers have been asking us how to make prints and albums from digital shots. The waiting is over! We can now give you stunning bright, sharp and colorful photographic prints and the best part is you can order it from your home or office! This means convenience, full control over quality and privacy".

"The third portal in our website is the most beautiful. This is the Pixetra Club portal. Pixetra Club is about 10 months old and we have been having activities like photography classes, outings and lecture/ slide-shows by renowned photographers. On the web, the club site (www.pixetra.com/club) presently has just logs about our many activities and events but we are working on a community area within the site that will have discussion forums, a wiki knowledge base/ product review archive, and more. One day I hope the knowledge base here will grow big enough to be the best online destination to find answers to all questions related to photography - especially in an Indian context!" hopes Srikantan.

The many features of the Pixetra website can be experienced at www.pixetra.com.