THE AFGHAN BOX CAMERA PROJECT

The Afghan Box Camera Project 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.

The Afghan Box Camera is simply a box-shaped wooden camera, traditionally used by photographers working on the urban streets, who produce, by-and-large, instant identity portraits for their clients. This intriguing and insightful project began when Lukas Birk and Sean Foley saw their first box camera in the north of Afghanistan in 2005 while researching tourism in conflict zones. Lukas Birk then built several cameras to explore the technical possibilities of the tool and in 2011 they both made their way back again to Afghanistan to document the last remaining box camera photographers in Kabul and Mazar-e-Sharif.

As of June 2011 Afghanistan is one of the last places on earth where photographers continue to use the kamra-e-faoree for means of making a living. The hand-made wooden camera is both camera and darkroom all 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.

If you would like to help. please visit afghanboxcamera.com

say "جبن !" (cheese)

“Right now we can still talk about it as a living form of photography, maybe for another couple of years, before it will completely disappear,”~  Birk 

 Hand tinting the negative

Photographing Aisha for the Cover of TIME

Photographer Jodi Bieber talks about her approach in making the photograph of Aisha, the Afghan woman on TIME's cover

Jodi Bieber (1966) is a South African photographer mostly known for her highly publicized portrait of Bibi Aisha; the young Afghan woman who had her nose and ears cut off by the Taliban after seeking rescue from her violent husband in her parent’s home. It was this photo that won Bieber the World Press Photo Award in 2011. She has won no less than 8 other World Press Photo Awards, as well numerous other prestigious awards such as first prize for the series “Real Beauty” in Picture of the Year International Competition and Winner of the Prix de l’Union Européene at the Rencontres de Bamako Biennale Africaine de la Photographie in 2009.







The Story has a happier note. 

The 19-year-old has bravely appeared in public wearing a prosthetic nose, fitted as part of the reconstructive treatment she is having in her new home, New York.Her smile is in stark contrast to the haunted look she showed the world on the cover of Time magazine in August.

Portrait photography in Afghanistan with Nikolaj Møller | Phase One

Photographer Nikolaj Møller wanted to put a face to the conflict in Afghanistan and tell the story of the Afghan forces. He travelled to Afghanistan's unruly Helman province, and there he shot a series of portraits of the Afghan National Police.

With him, he brought a Phase One P 40+ camera system because he knew it could cope with the brutal environment of heat, dust and lengthy travels while still delivering amazing quality in every capture. [via PHASE ONE]

Photographer Nikolaj Møller:
http://www.nahm.dk

Video Bio of Jared Moossy - Photojournalist

Photographs From The War In Afghanistan By Simon Norfolk Inspired by 19th Century British Photographer

Photographer Stephen Dupont in Afghanistan

Suicide Bomb Afghanistan from Stephen Dupont on Vimeo.