2011-07-21

JOURNAL– Kamra-e-faoree

Came across this video, as a staff pick on vimeo. This photography style it is quoted “the living form of photography” was brilliantly and painstakingly documented in 2011 by Austrian artist Lukas Birk and Irish ethnographer Sean Foley.

<excerpt from the project’s website> The Afghan Box Camera is a simple box-shaped wooden camera traditionally used by photographers working from a street pitch, who produce, by-and-large, instant identity portraits (aks: عکس) for their clients. In Dari the camera is known as kamra-e-faoree, which means ‘instant camera’. It's also less frequently called kamra-e-faoree-e-chobi (instant wooden camera) or kamra-e-chobi (wooden camera). In Pashtu the camera is sometimes referred to as da lastunri kamra (sleeve camera: دلستوڼی کیمرہ) because of the sleeve on the side of the camera that photographers insert their arm into.

It was pure genius, I was so inspired to learn more about it and eventually attempted to start a build as well. This was the purest form of photography, with alot of research into the camera. Attached images taken from the project’s website http://www.afghanboxcamera.com/