I first encountered the Afghan Box-Camera in 2006. I spent several summers in and around Afghanistan to document tourists in conflict zones together with Sean Foley. (see Kafkanistan chapter)

The camera is a very simple box. Containing everything you need to take a picture. Lens, photographic paper and darkroom. A very essential way of taking an image.
First you take a negative after that you take a picture of the negative and you will get a positive.

My colleague Sean Foley and I spent 6 weeks in April and May 2011 in Afghanistan to research the origins, techniques and the many personal stories from the photographers using or having used these cameras. The complete research with photos, portfolios, interview excerpts, how to do videos and comprehensive research on the history of photography in Afghanistan and the box camera, can be found on our project website www.afghanboxcamera.com.

A huge thank you goes to the many supports for this project without them the journey back to Afghanistan would not have been possible.

Below a view images from the different cameras I have build over the years.

Mia Muhammad, Kabul May 2011

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Box Camera 1.0

Internal focusing system with an enlarger lens. Biggest image size 6x6cm. Images taken are from a Kafkanistan exhibition in Beijing in 2009.

Box Camera 2.0

Internal focusing system with thick stable plexi-glass plate and focusing slots. The large format Carl Zeiss lens with f.2.8 allowed me to take bigger and sharper images. The newly designed box is more durable.

Box Camera 2.1

I kept the same box from version 2.0 but decided to change the camera to an external focusing system. I used an old Erneman camera exchanged the negative slide with a glass plate and removed the lens and replaced it with my Carl Zeiss lens. The images below are taken in Afghanistan.

Update 16/10/2011

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Video updates on the project

Update from Kabul, Wednesday 4th of May 2011

Update from Bregenz, Austria Wednesday 1st of June 2011