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The Street Box Camera is a handmade wooden camera. It is both a camera and a darkroom in one. This type of camera has been given a variety of names and has different origins and uses depending on the geographic location.


Street Box Camera from Romania - Collection Fotomuseum Antwerpen

Etymology

The term street box camera or box camera incorporates a variety cameras that all function in similar fashion. The name this tool has been given varies from country to country. Afghan Box Camera or Kamra-e-Faoree have been used in Afghanistan amongst others[1]. In the Spanish speaking world it is mostly referred to as Camera Minuteros or Minutera[2]. In Brazil the camera is known as Lambe Lambe [3](lick lick). In Cuba the camera has been referred to as Cuban Polaroid[4][5]. In India it is widely know as Minute Camera and in Pakistan as Ruh Khitch (spirit pulling). Although Minutera is used in Mexico it is also called Foto Agüita[6][7] in some areas.

History

Street Box Cameras have been used in many countries around the world as early as 1890[8]. The camera is a descendent of the Ferrotype, which itinerant photographers used to create memory photographs, especially in Europe and the Americas.[9]. Early cameras produced in the United States of America included the Mandel-ette[10] and Daydark[11]. The camera had been adapted by photographers and carpenters, and homemade versions of the camera spread from urban centres to more rural communities.

The camera saw its most popular times in Europe and Northern America between World War I and World War II. The 1950s saw a steady decline due to cheaply available role film and other forms of instant photography.

In regions with less economic prosperity the Street Box Camera remained a constant attraction for tourists as it offered a cheaply and instantly available souvenir of a day in the park or beach. The photos were developed right away and the picture was ready within a couple of minutes. That is why the camera was referred to as Minute or Minuteros camera.[12] Many of these street photographers had a fixed spot outdoors near a touristic attraction.[13]

Image of a street box camera from Greece.
Street box camera from Greece - Collection Fotomuseum Antwerpen

Technical details

There are essentially two different types of Street Box Cameras, those with external focus or internal focus.[14] External focus cameras are usually produced with an old commercial bellows camera. The bellows are attached to a the box and can be pushed and pulled in order to focus. An internal focus requires more skill and have often been produced by carpenters.


In the back inside of the box, a sheet of photographic paper is mounted for exposure. To process the picture the photographer sticks his hand in an opening with a sleeve that prevents light from entering. Inside the box there is room for an improvised lab where the sheet of paper is developed and fixated in simple containers. The rinsing is done in a bucket of water. The pictures are taken on photographic paper and not on film, which is more time-consuming and would require an indoor lab. After development you get a negative image. This negative image is put on a holder attached to the front of the camera and a new photo is taken of the same image. The complete in-tank process is repeated and the result is a regular, positive image.[15]


The cameras were often build by the photographers themselves, and through time every country got its own style.

Afghan Box Camera

The terms Afghan Box Camera or Kamra-e-faoree (دوربین فوری) meaning Instant Camera in Dari [16](a variety of the Persian language spoken in Afghanistan), were coined and

Afghan Box Camera Photographer in Kabul[1]

popularized by Lukas Birk and Sean Foley through their research for their Afghan Box Camera Project.[16] This type of camera was widely used in Afghanistan from the 1950s till 2010 and the advent of digital photography.[16]

There is evidence that the box camera moved from the Indian subcontinent to Afghanistan as early as 1930. [16]  The 1950s saw a marked increase in the usage of box cameras due to the government’s introduction of photographic identity cards (taskira). [16][17] This required an increase of cameras and photographers to meet the need. The ruler at the time, Zahir Shah, commissioned two entrepreneurs, Afandi and Ahmadin Taufiq[16][17], 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 it to the smallest villages in Afghanistan. [16]

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[16]. Although the Taliban did initially ban photography, they later allowed black and white headshots of men for identification purposes.[18] The camera was primarily produced by carpenters but was easily adapted by photographers to their needs.[16] The camera uses photographic paper to produce a negative[19]. 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.

Camera Minutera

File:Box Camera Collection by Hekmatullah.jpg
School identity photographs taken in Afghanistan with an Afghan Box Camera. [20]

Current use

Generations of people living in small town villages have had there portrait taken while sitting in front of a Kamra-e-faoree, but a significant decline has happened since the 21st century due to digital photography.[21] Nowadays the street box camera is only used in touristic hot spots all across the world

Usage of the Box Camera, declined steadily after 2001 and they are now rarely used in Afghanistan[16]. 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,[22][23][24] and the release of an open-source online manual, on how to build a camera[25] has inspired many photographers globally to continue this tradition. At the same time, similar cameras have been in continuous use by artists and street photographers, especially in the Spanish-speaking world under the name Camera Minutera. [26].  

Image of a street box camera from the USA.
Street box camera from the USA - Collection Fotomuseum Antwerpen

References

  1. ^ a b "Mia Muhammad Photographer". www.afghanboxcamera.com. Retrieved 2020-06-04.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  2. ^ "Fotografía minutera", Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre (in Spanish), 2020-07-14, retrieved 2020-07-17
  3. ^ "HISTÓRIA DOS LAMBE LAMBE". Lambe Lambe Digital (in Brazilian Portuguese). 2011-01-25. Retrieved 2020-07-17.
  4. ^ "Cuban Polaroid: one box that shoots and develops photos". Boing Boing. 2010-06-07. Retrieved 2020-07-17.
  5. ^ ""Cuban Polaroid" is ultra-low-tech camera, darkroom all in one | Make:". Make: DIY Projects and Ideas for Makers. 0001-11-30. Retrieved 2020-07-17. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. ^ "PROYECTO FOTOAGÜITAS". www.fotojuanalonso.com. Retrieved 2020-07-17.
  7. ^ Unknown (domingo, septiembre 10, 2006). "La foto de parque: Una tradición pasada por agua". ALBORNOZ. Retrieved 2020-07-17. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  8. ^ Finefield, Kristi (2016-04-07). "Anything to Get the Shot: Itinerant Photographers | Picture This: Library of Congress Prints & Photos". blogs.loc.gov. Retrieved 2020-07-17.
  9. ^ "Box Camera Photography Now – A global community of Box Camera Photographers". Retrieved 2020-05-28.
  10. ^ "Mandel-ette - Camera-wiki.org - The free camera encyclopedia". camera-wiki.org. Retrieved 2020-05-28.
  11. ^ "Daydark - Camera-wiki.org - The free camera encyclopedia". camera-wiki.org. Retrieved 2020-05-28.
  12. ^ "Curious box camera photographers at Parque Central". Online Tours. Retrieved 2019-11-12.
  13. ^ Hannavy, John, ed. (2008). Encyclopedia of Nineteenth-Century Photography (PDF). USA: Routledge. pp. 1398–1399. ISBN 978-0-415-97235-2.
  14. ^ Ghnassia, Patrick. (2001). Photographes de rue = Street photographers = Minuteros. Freitas, Zilmo de. Mialet (France): Katar Press. p. 11. ISBN 2910284158. OCLC 60837344.
  15. ^ "How to use an Afghan box camera "kamra-e-faoree"". Vimeo. Retrieved 2019-11-12.
  16. ^ 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)
  17. ^ a b Lukas Birk, Sean Foley. "Afghan Box Camera". Dewi Lewis Publishing. Retrieved 2020-05-28.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  18. ^ Donati, Jessica (2019-03-11). "The Last Days of Taliban Head Mullah Omar". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2020-05-28.
  19. ^ "How to use an Afghan box camera "kamra-e-faoree"". Vimeo. Retrieved 2020-05-28.
  20. ^ "Afghan Box Camera Project". www.afghanboxcamera.com. Retrieved 2020-06-04.
  21. ^ "Afghan Box Camera Project". www.afghanboxcamera.com. Retrieved 2019-11-12.
  22. ^ O'Hagan, Sean (2014-02-13). "Afghan Box Cameras: how street photographers captured a nation". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2020-05-28.
  23. ^ Lily, Rothman (Feb 23, 2012). "The Disappearing Afghan Box Camera". TIME.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  24. ^ Valcarcel, Josh (2013-11-14). "The 100-Year-Old Instant Camera in Afghanistan Faces Extinction". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 2020-05-28.
  25. ^ "How to build an Afghan Box Camera" (PDF). www.afghanboxcamera.com. Retrieved 2020-05-28.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  26. ^ "Cámara de fotos minutera".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)

Publications

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