Kotak Kamera Trio

#KotakKameraTrio, a collective of three box camera practitioners, photographers, camera builders, darkroom artists based in Malaysia. Consisting of @jeffreyjclim Jeffrey J C Lim  @nurulhudamr Nurul Huda Mat Rusdi @loncle.bonkle Antoine Loncle  We’re on three social channels: instagram @kotakkameratrio facebook page Kotak Kamera Trio & wordpress https://kotakkameramalaysia.wordpress.com/

Add us, keep up to date with our future programs & tours
@kotakkameratrio
@kantaportraits (Jeff)
@projectkeepsake (Nurul)
@lumierephotolabs (Antoine)

Jeffrey Lim, based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Trained as a communication designer, he has been actively involved in cycling & accessibility advocacy. His artistic expression stems from his cultural work in social art projects using cultural mapping, installation and photography. Jeff has worked in brand identity design and started his own design practise in 2009. 

As an artist, Jeff considers himself more as a cultural narrator, utilising forms of conceptual representation with imagery, found-object, and space. His recent work with Kanta Portraits has seen him travel between Malaysia and Taiwan in a social exchange with indigenous communities. Exploring the concepts of identities and the nation state.

Jeffrey Lim

cameras built

portraiture project

Nurul Huda, freelance photographer based in Selangor, Malaysia. With a deep interest in photography since 2010, she pursued her education in Diploma in Photography at SEGi College Subang Jaya, Malaysia. Her works focus mainly on portraiture, events and analogue photography. 

Her exploration on analogue photography began during her study days, which led to the embarking of the box camera project for her final year assessment, inspired and mentored by Jeffrey Lim, the pioneer of box camera in Malaysia. Since then onwards, she has participated in multiple exhibitions, namely People’s Youth Exhibition organized by Malaysian Heritage and History Club, and SAY Ignite x SACH Creative Exhibition. She also held portrait sessions with the self-built camera @projectkeepsake. In collaboration with a local film lab in Kuala Lumpur, she teaches classes on film developing process. #projectkeepsake

Nurul Huda

first prototype camera 2016

portrait booth

prints compilation

Antoine Loncle, Malaysian-French documentary photographer using analog processes and materials in his work. In 2016 he traveled to Australia to undertake his BA in Photography at Photography Studies College, Melbourne. In this time, he has been fortunate enough to have had guidance from some of the country’s biggest photographic artists, participated in several group exhibitions, and developed a mentorship in 2018 with renowned American photographer Bryan Schutmaat. In 2020, he founded Lumiere Photo Labs @lumierephotolabs an institution based in Penang, dedicated to conducting analog process and photography workshops.

As his interests in analog and alternative processes grew, in late 2019 he began work on the construction of a home-made camera capable of producing analog prints up to 8x10” in size. Since it’s completion in 2020, the camera has been used to capture portraits of a number of individuals across Penang, as well as for educational purposes. #Luminerephotolabs

Antoine Loncle

8x10" camera

4x5 print

8x10 print

Performance– Luminous Shadow

15 February– 浮光流影便當🍱 沒想到我也有，簡直抽象畫 豪美 2021TIFA 王佩瑤《浮光流影》音樂會 食材｜椰奶米布丁; 芝麻粉; 竹炭粉 便當設計製作｜Kelly Tiny_human_big_appetite 演出購票｜https://bit.ly/3mHewM4 #最後42張！！

Concert photograph made out of food.... I think needs gula melaka and it'll taste great!

6 January– Luminous Shadow, performance is announced for this year's TIFA 2021 Taiwan International Festival of Arts! I'm hoping I'd get to travel to be part of it! Come April 23 & 24, 2021. Box office opened and tickets are on sale now! #luminousshadow浮光流影

Reposted from @ntch.taipei ｜王佩瑤《浮光流影》音樂會｜
鋼琴家 #王佩瑤X小提琴家 #魏靖儀X大提琴家 #高炳坤X攝影藝術家 #林猷進
「身為一名音樂家，讀譜是我的日常，我讀了吳明益的單車失竊記，也聽到了音樂、結構與畫面。」—王佩瑤

受吳明益暢銷小說《單車失竊記》啟發，臺灣文學化做音符呈現 #東歐音樂，鋼琴家王佩瑤將盤根錯節的生命軸線中的「記憶」化成音符，尋覓文學與音樂的全新面貌，更將將音樂轉化成回憶的影像，讓故事繼續活在記憶中。

：：：2021TIFA 王佩瑤《浮光流影》音樂會：：：
日期｜2021.4.23 -  4.24
地點｜國家兩廳院演奏廳

2020.10.24前申辦的廳院青欲至OPENTIX購票前，別忘記先到「兩廳院官網」點擊「兩廳院之友首次登入」綁定新制會員身分，再到OPENTIX註冊綁定，開啟新的藝文旅程

還沒申辦的21歲以下地球人現在就點選首頁連結、即刻前往兩廳院官網！

___

19 March 2020– Performance is postponed. Sorry everyone stay safe.

Year 2020, come April, I will be part of a conceptual performance in Taipei, “Luminous Shadow 浮光流影” with two other artists. A new experience, still much to prepare. https://npac-ntch.org/zh/festivals/TIFA/2020/events/program/details/13

2020 TIFA Luminous Shadow / 王佩瑤「浮光流影」音樂會

Memories Flowing from the Novel, Turning Time into A Sonata.
Memory can be luminous so as to cast shadows in time. Certain memories in life are so profound that they need to be slowly brewed and carefully tasted, similar to the process how literature is penned, music is composed, or photography is developed.

Inspired by the bestselling novel The Stolen Bicycle written by WU Ming-yi, pianist WANG Pei-yao seeks to explore a new dimension of literature and music through the complexity of life itself. Musicians WANG Pei-yao, William Wei, laureate of the Queen Elisabeth International Violin Competition, and Victor Coo, the Filipino-Chinese cellist, perform pieces by the Eastern European composers Janáček, Ligeti, Enescu, and Kodály. Some of the pieces were based on rural folk songs collected by the composers, which then inspired them to produce compositions of their own. This process is akin to the way readers experience different dialects phonically throughout the novel. The music reflects the elaborate setup of the novel to evoke the audience’s deep hidden emotions. Jeffrey Lim, the Malaysian photographer, joins forces with the musical troupe in performance. He will transfigure the music into images for recollection, thereby allowing the stories to live on in the memory.

記憶自小說流出， 把時間走成一首樂曲。
記憶是明亮的，才能在時光中投下陰影。生命中有某些記憶太深刻，必須慢慢醞釀、仔細品味，就像是寫作、作曲或是沖洗照片的過程。

受吳明益暢銷小說《單車失竊記》啟發，鋼琴家王佩瑤將盤根錯節的生命軸線中的「記憶」化成音符，尋覓文學與音樂的全新面貌。王佩瑤、伊莉莎白女王國際音樂大賽優勝得主魏靖儀、菲律賓華裔大提琴家高炳坤等音樂家，聯手演奏東歐作曲家楊納傑克、李蓋蒂、埃內斯庫、高大宜等人的作品。部份作品的靈感來自於這些作曲家蒐集到的鄉間民謠，據以創作出他們自己的曲子。這個過程類似讀者體驗小說中不同方言的發音。音樂反映出小說中的精心設計，觸動深藏在聽眾內心的情感。馬來西亞攝影藝術家林猷進也共襄盛舉此計劃，將音樂轉化成回憶的影像，讓故事繼續活在記憶中。

BUILD– Tangki Camera #10tangki #10TGbuild

14 February– Back to the hardest build Tangki Camera #10tangki #10TGbuild. I need to remeasure the frame and finalise this design. another week of lockdown! I need to buy more PVC pipes... 

refitting tangki camera

photoshoot for video

sourcing vertical container

sourcing flat container

4 January– Finished building No. 10 Kamera Tong to working stage, took the first few prints thanks to Nabil Zakaria & the Walkabout Asia team ! momentus day... still needs refinement, but its working!!!! extra pics of production team. #10TGbuild

Tong Camera working title #10TGbuild

studio ready test

first print

Nabil removing masking tape

riveting the mid frame

lighting test

safelight shoot

Nabil operating camera

Nabil, first print

Nabil two portraits

Happy Campers production

Happy Campers team

___

2 January– Lightproof testing and painting patches. install front standard / lens mount

___

27 December 2020– Cutting the front standard to have more side wall space within camera

___

30 November 2020– TG jacket– bike me... Today's errand took me from bangsar print shop, to north jalan ipoh camera accessories. nice to catch up with the Kuar Kee (bicycle shop loceng) previously from Dang Wangi, heritage shop, Roija the tailors "velcro-ing my evening jacket" for my new box camera #10TGbuild and father, son badminton sports shop "you buy this at supermarket ah?" looking at my badminton racquet..... 

___

29 August 2020— Most Chatty Grandma, she just kept talking to me in every dialect i could recognise, from hakka, teo chew, kwong tong, hainan, hokkien, huar yee, 'panai ah' (pandai ah /smart ah) she said, in my most broken mandarin cantonese malay nyonya in trying to have a conversation. My recommended bundle shop for jackets from Communist China. for use in my latest camera build. I hardly negotiated, just by passing all the money i had to the cutest por por. I bought two jackets here too, back in 2014. (Kedai Kasut Sinni Enterprise) #KantaPortraits #kantaboxkamra #4Woodie #10TGbuild @ Kampung baru, sungai buloh

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

___

18 April– Say Hello to Kamera no.10 Tong camera (working name). Built mostly during our 'Lockdown'. It is the 5th generation of instant-portrait cameras I've built, this one a development from the main camera no.1 Interchange with many design upgrades. I have gathered many thoughts on how to make this build as simple and easy as possible, using found materials and inspired from my experience with indigenous communities here on the Peninsular with their building methods and materials used. Even some of the Tong (containers) are from their villages.

It is still not complete, because I don't have access to getting some paint/ build materials, tools and other photographic materials in the studio during this lockdown period. But I'm happy to share this new prototype range and some of the new features it will be able to perform. (Credit to FABLAB of Taipei too for helping in making a crucial part, back in November 2019).

- Much lighter about 1.5kg (below 2kg i think, don't have my weighing scale)
- waterproof! for washing
- rear standard movements (for fine focusing)
- vertical and horizontal format
- 4x5"and smaller multi-format print size
- interchangeable lenses
- colour prints (BW as well) chemical prints!
- handheld box cameras (used in combination)
- HDPE plastics, highly recyclable and remoulded

prototype no.10 Kamera Tong (working name)

prototype no.10 Kamera Tong, made in asli-asia

building the prototype

size comparison prototype no.1 & no.10

Taipei city, plastic-wear market, 20 litre

prototyping, sourced new/used 10 & 20 litre container

container backpacks, Kurau village, Carey Island, Selangor

Dave, Kurau river village, Carey Island, Selangor

Plastic supplies and kitchen ware, Chemor, Perak

indigenous household, Jemol village, Upper Perak

Building materials, Miri town, seaside village, Sarawak

found sample prototype, abandoned outpost, Upper Perak

Hen Rie, collector of container, Leyef village, Upper Perak

Palm oil estate, migrant worker, Upper Perak

Estate supply store, palm oil plantation, Upper Perak

Upper Perak, palm oil plantation

used HDPE container pile, Jemeri village, Rompin, Perak