The man who

Mr Krishna Raj turns old tapes into timeless treasures, keeping the past alive for his customers, one reel at a time.

- Taryn Ng Photojournalist

"I repair time machines for a living. I help people go back in time" is how 45-year-old Krishna Raj describes his work on his Instagram profile.

"You know when you watch a movie and you see a character fast-forward through time? I can literally see it. This is all real. All these fleeting moments," said Mr Krishna, who repairs and digitises Video Home System (VHS) tapes.

He has experienced the same kind of time-travelling himself, having restored his own home movies, which he began making from the time his mother gave him his first camcorder in 1997 when he was 18.

Mr Krishna, who is also a freelance photographer and videographer, charges an average of $30 to $60 for each tape he restores or digitises.

After teaching himself how to do the work from YouTube videos and the internet, he first posted his services on Carousell in 2019 - but had few customers.

Then came the pandemic and - whether people were seeking refuge from Covid devastation in a beautiful bygone era or they had time on their hands - the business boomed.