‘Kamra-e-faoree‘ which means ‘instant camera’ is used by photographers working from a street pitch. Made out of a simple box-shaped wood, it’s both a camera and a darkroom in one. The Afghan Box Camera Photography is an ongoing project done by a team of kamra-e-faoree photographers in Afghanistan.
Being outlawed once as the former rulers of Afghanistan banned photography, it has forced photographers to hide or destroy their equipment, “which as a living form of photography is on the brink of disappearing in Afghanistan.”
Customers who poses for a photograph, will look forward toward the camera and sit on a chair against a material backdrop. As the camera is complete manual, photographers will tend to rely on natural light while they whisk away the lens cap with one hand to expose the photographic paper on the inside of the camera, replaces the shutter and insert an arm through a light-tight sleeve giving him access to the camera’s interior which doubles as a darkroom. While inside the camera, he develops a paper negative of the image which he has just taken and then shoot the negative film to make the positive to finally then develop it to a finished photograph.
Watch this video below as he demonstrates on how to use the camera and if you’re fascinated about it, the site provides a galleries of photos taken using the wooden camera, and also also includes a full lengthy of information on it’s history and videos that show how you could actually DIY one yourself here.
