LENSES; salvaging lenses

Salvaging lenses from old unusable multifocal lense, quite alot of elements here and also the aperture. possibly a few suitable ones for the project.

ACQUIRE; Biscuit tin

PENANG; pasar malam, biscuit seller. been eyeing these biscuit tins for a bit. they're quite ideal, with the window, although abit small, not for long lenses. Acquired 2 used biscuit tins.

LENSES; large format lenses & shutters

looking up some old, good quality lenses. acquired a couple of lenses as options for the project. here are a few on the list

1. front lense element, shutter size 0 127mm
2. barrel lense, russian, 210mm
3. barrel lense, russian, 210mm
4. barrel lense with mounting, 135mm
5. prontor polaroid shutter size 0, 135mm
6. rear of lense plate, rear lense element
7. focal plane cloth shutter, this is pretty old stuff

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test shot; 100mm 2 x 3" format bellow camera

a basic 2 x 3" camera with 100mm lense, about 4" lens coverage, basic front lense shift controls. managed to do some front tilting to get some interesting depth

test shots; comparison

comparison shot with Aedewan as talent

 

 

 

test shots; experiments with a spherical lens and diaphragm

test shots with convex lens

 

 

 

line to quote

the eye responds to light. every object viewed is seen with light— either the light emitted by the object or light that is reflected from it.

taken from chapter the science of light, light and vision by Conrad G. Mueller, Mae Rudolph. LIFE science library

KANTA project on studio25.my site

find some official picture of the project posted on studio 25's website

KANTA is a self-contained instant camera, through an analogue photographic process; it is an ingenious, economical way of producing an image. Kanta, which means lense in Malay, will be made from salvaged materials. Apart from the interesting process of building this box camera, this project also hopes to capture a unique portrait of everyday Malaysian society. The printing process & effect of this camera juxtapose with what is recorded creates an interesting and unique insight of ourselves. (2014)
with inspirations from kamra e faoree— building a ‘turn of last century’ instant print camera. it's almost extinct, still used in remote parts of india and afghanistan. a camera obscura which functions as a darkroom. uses the photopaper as a negative and positive. ingenious way of reproduction. join the group on facebook/kanta to see the development. (2011)

with support from the Kristen Jit Astro Fund 

 

 

REUNION; Master Chan

Master Chan, an old friend and one of my most respected mentors. He's 78 this year, still sharp as the lenses in the cameras he restores. He'll be giving me valuable lessons in the essence of the moulding of light.

South Australia museum– reflection

South Australia, Adelaide

Exhibits on historical collection

Medicine man

Oceania collection

Aborigines collection

Oceania Ethnography

Oceania burial collection

Oceania burial collection

Modern Art museum

Outback Australia

JOURNAL; quick test

Celebrated the awarding of the funding with doing a quick test using a convex lens (magnifying glass)

JOURNAL; Kristen Jit Astro Fund

Proposed the Kamra project for a grant and received partial funding to start this project, which has been named in a local context "KANTA". Scheduled for year 2014.

JOURNAL– Master Chan

Met up with an old photography master, of the old school. A technician background, Chan, 76 at that time, has lived many different life, is a great camera restorer and passionate about the large format camera. He also custom makes lens plates and many others.

JOURNAL– concepts & designs

Started drawing and thinking of the concept behind the building of the kamra and linking it to the principles of only using found / waste material to build it. Started salvaging some materials to start project, recycle-able materials from centres.

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/