2011 | Afghanistan | Documentary

How to use an Afghan Box Camera “kamra-e-faoree”

  • English 8 mins
  • Director | Lukas Birk, Sean Foley
  • Writer | Lukas Birk, Sean Foley
  • Producer | Lukas Birk, Sean Foley
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Afghanistan is one of the last places on earth where photographers used a simple type of instant camera called the kamra-e-faoree for means of making a living. The hand-made wooden camera is both camera and darkroom in one and generations of Afghans have had their portraits taken with it, usually for identity photographs. At one stage it was even outlawed when former rulers of Afghanistan, the Taliban, banned photography, forcing photographers to hide or destroy their tools.

In this film, Qalam Nabi, one of the last remaining box camera photographers in Kabul demonstrates how to use his camera. 

The film is part of the Afghan Box Camera Project, it provides a record of the kamra-e-faoree (instant camera) which as a living form of photography is on the brink of disappearing in Afghanistan. It was shot in 2014.

Find out more about the subject on www.afghanboxcamera.com 

Afghanistan History Photography box camera
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