User:Photographichistory/sandbox/Afghan Box Camera
Afghan Box Camera
The Afghan Box Camera, also know as Kamra-e-faoree (دوربین فوری) Instant Camera in Dari [1](a variety of the Persian language spoken in Afghanistan) is a simple wooden box that serves as camera and dark room at the same time.
The camera was widely used in Afghanistan from the 1950s till 2010 and the start of digital photography.[1]
Afghan Box Camera is a term that describes a camera that has been used around the world and has been given different names such as; Box Camera, Afghan Camera, Street Box Camera, Camera Minuteros, Photographs de la Rue[2], Lambe Lambe[3], Cuban Polaroid, Instant Box, Minute Camera[4], Ruh Khitch or Foto Agüita. The name has changed according to language and area but the principles of the camera have remained the same.
The Terms Afghan Box Camera and Kamra-e-faoree have been coined and popularized by Lukas Birk and Sean Foley through their research; Afghan Box Camera Project.[1]
History
Similar cameras to the Afghan Box Cameras have been in use in many countries around the world since the late 1890s. The camera is a descendent of the Ferrotype, which itinerant photographers have used to create memory photographs especially in Europe and the Americas[5]. Early cameras produced in the United States of America were the Mandel-ette[6] and Daydark[7]. The camera had been adapted by photographers and carpenters and home made versions of the camera spread from the urban centers to the more rural communities.
There is evidence that the box camera moved from the Indian sub-continent to Afghanistan as early as 1930[1]. The 1950s saw a strong increase in the usage of box cameras due to the government’s introduction of a photographic identity card (taskira)[1][8]. This required a sudden increase of cameras and photographers. The ruler at the time Zahir Shah commissioned two entrepreneurs Afandi and Ahmadin Taufiq[1] to train photographers and document the male Afghan population for the first time. A carpenter named Ali Ahmad produced a camera model that had been used by dozen of photographers and spread to the smallest villages in Afghanistan.[1]
As other forms of photography were expensive the box camera remained the camera of choice for most citizens until the commercialization of digital photography after the American invasion in 2001. The camera was also in use during Afghanistan’s civil war period and the reign of the Taliban[1]. Although the Taliban did ban photography initially they later allowed black and white headshots of men for identification purposes.[9]
Usage
The Afghan Box Camera is a simple wooden box that is camera and dark room at the same time. The camera was primarily produced by carpenters but was easily adapted by photographers to their needs.[1] The camera uses photographic paper to produce a negative[10]. The negative gets re-photographed on a holder in the front of the box. The photograph of the negative turns into a positive. The box camera was used in Afghanistan primarily to create ID photographs. It served as a cheap alternative to studio photography and was in many areas the only type of camera available.
Afghan Box Camera today
As the usage of the Box Camera saw a steady decline after 2001, they are by now not used any more in Afghanistan[1]. Due to the work of Lukas Birk and Sean Foley and their Afghan Box Camera Project the style of Box Camera photography used in Afghanistan has received a lot of media attention[11][12][13] and the release of an open source manual on how to build a camera[14] online has inspired many photographers globally to continue this tradition. At the same time similar style cameras have continuously been used by artists and street photographers especially in the Spanish speaking world under the name Camera Minutera[15].
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Afghan Box Camera Project". www.afghanboxcamera.com. Retrieved 2020-05-28.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Zilmo, Freitas (2001). Photographes de Rue. Street photographers. Minuteros. Katar press.
- ^ "Lambe-lambe: fotógrafos de rua anos 1970 - Foto MIS". SESI-SP Editora (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 2020-05-28.
- ^ Parker, Ann (September 13, 1984). Los Ambulantes: The Itinerant Photographers of Guatemala. The MIT Press. ISBN 978-0262660532.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: year (link) - ^ "Box Camera Photography Now – A global community of Box Camera Photographers". Retrieved 2020-05-28.
- ^ "Mandel-ette - Camera-wiki.org - The free camera encyclopedia". camera-wiki.org. Retrieved 2020-05-28.
- ^ "Daydark - Camera-wiki.org - The free camera encyclopedia". camera-wiki.org. Retrieved 2020-05-28.
- ^ Lukas Birk, Sean Foley. "Afghan Box Camera". Dewi Lewis Publishing. Retrieved 2020-05-28.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Donati, Jessica (2019-03-11). "The Last Days of Taliban Head Mullah Omar". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2020-05-28.
- ^ "How to use an Afghan box camera "kamra-e-faoree"". Vimeo. Retrieved 2020-05-28.
- ^ O'Hagan, Sean (2014-02-13). "Afghan Box Cameras: how street photographers captured a nation". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2020-05-28.
- ^ Lily, Rothman (Feb 23, 2012). "The Disappearing Afghan Box Camera". TIME.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Valcarcel, Josh (2013-11-14). "The 100-Year-Old Instant Camera in Afghanistan Faces Extinction". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 2020-05-28.
- ^ "How to build an Afghan Box Camera" (PDF). www.afghanboxcamera.com. Retrieved 2020-05-28.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Cámara de fotos minutera".
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)