Afghan Box Cameras: A dying breed.

Researching a lecture on repurposing old cameras and paper negatives I came across some wonderful videos from the Afghan Box Camera Project.  www.afghanboxcamera.com.  This documents the use of the kamra-e-faoree or "instant camera" which was banned for a time by the Taliban (along with music and paper bags) and is now all but extinct thanks to a combination of official demand for colour in identity pictures and the rise of digital. A few survive, some in the hands of artists and experimenters but there are almost no traditional camera operators left in Afghanistan now.

Kamra-e-faoree in use

Every camera is different; made from old packing cases or custom built by local carpenters. They are a combination view camera, copy camera and portable darkroom all in one. Some are as much as 100 years old.  The ingenuity is fantastic: Bits of other cameras and other repurposed materials are incorporated and each has its own features, from special focusing windows to little washing lines complete with pegs to hang drying prints. They all have a display of the photographers' work (and sometimes a few others!) on the side.

The method varies slightly with the design but typically the photographer focuses the image on the ground glass, then working through a lightproof sleeve in the side he positions a small piece of photo paper. This is exposed to make a paper negative, which is developed and fixed inside the camera body, the photographer watching progress through a special eye hole and red filtered window. 

Neg processing inside the camera. A still from the video "How to use an Afghan Box Camera"

Once the neg is fixed, it's repositioned in front of the camera and re-photographed to create a positive print.

Portrait by Muhammad Ishaq

 I trust the project won't mind my putting some of the images from their website here. I urge you to visit it and watch the videos of the camera in use, a carpenter building a new camera, and the process of using coloured kite paper as a source of dye for hand-tinting the prints. The energy and ingenuity are amazing and inspiring.

There is a book of the project by Lukas Birk and Sean Foley:

I've bought my copy!  See the link on the Afghan Box Camera website or go to:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Afghan-Box-Camera-Lukas-Birk/dp/1907893369/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1377087918&sr=8-1&keywords=afghan+box+camera

Links:
The website:
www.afghanboxcamera.com

Great film of the camera in use:
http://www.afghanboxcamera.com/abcp_camera_howtouse.htm

A local carpenter builds a camera:
http://www.afghanboxcamera.com/abcp_camera_howtobuild.htm

Sundry techniques in short videos:
http://www.afghanboxcamera.com/abcp_camera_techniques.htm