Afghan box in Afghanistan

[ghostcount]

https://youtu.be/I_gYuoOZIgU

Interesting video, though, I don’t agree on his assessment of “last remaining person... (and likely the world) who still uses this ancient box camera...”:rolleyes:

[Tin Can]

How do we count all the users?

He's good by me.

Be happy for him

[Drew Wiley]

Well, wooden box cameras are still being made, so that kinda undermines the stereotype. But the name Haji unnerves me. There was once a janitor by that name at my workplace who used the toilet bowl brush on the water fountain and break room sink, and in that order! Like most janitorial chores, that was after hours, so nobody knew why they were getting sick. I never trusted public drinking fountains anyway.

[ghostcount]

Well, wooden box cameras are still being made, so that kinda undermines the stereotype. But the name Haji unnerves me. There was once a janitor by that name at my workplace who used the toilet bowl brush on the water fountain and break room sink, and in that order! Like most janitorial chores, that was after hours, so nobody knew why they were getting sick. I never trusted public drinking fountains anyway.

That’s horrible!:(

How did you guys find out?

[Drew Wiley]

Certain people worked after hours in the company cabinet shop or mill, and stumbled onto it. He got booted after that. In fact, one of the supervisors volunteered to do the janitorial himself until somebody competent was found. After-hours janitorial services are always a security risk anyway. Eventually, the neighborhood police sergeant was hired after his ordinary shift to watch over things; but inventory was still disappearing. We replaced one janitorial service after another, assuming it was them. Finally, a parallel security camera system was secretly installed which the cop himself was not aware of, and you guessed it, he had been the thief all along! (He had emergency keys and alarm codes to all the businesses around there).

[William Whitaker]

...But the name Haji unnerves me...

Reminds me of Jonny Quest

[Tin Can]

Never saw those, but I get your point, after a quick look


Reminds me of Jonny Quest

[Drew Wiley]

Well, I wasn't trying to detract from the dignity of the old man with the camera. Somewhere I've got a picture of my uncle beside the King of Afghanistan, the king prior to the one in the link. My uncle traveled with him in a two-humped camel caravan exploring primitive parts of northern Afghanistan. Dinner required full formal protocol. Persian rugs were laid out on the sand, real gold eating utensils were unpacked. My uncle put on a tuxedo, the King his special robes, and they sat side by side with a full retinue of servants, everyone unbathed for weeks, picking camel ticks off themselves the whole time. My uncle was afterwards inducted into the Explorer's Club for allegedly being the first person of European descent to explore that area, at least since Alexander's days.
I stupidly loaned his biography to a friend and haven't gotten it back yet. My favorite picture was of the official Afghan Navy : inflated oxhides being paddled across the Oxus river. The King's guards had sabers and flintlocks - state of the art compared to the matchlocks the bandits in the area were using. But just in case, there was one machine gun along, and it had to be used. One bandit on a camel blew his own head off when his home-made matchlock exploded after the wick was lit; the others got the machine gun treatment. My uncle had a hand-cranked movie camera and I saw the flick myself when he got back to the States about six years later. I have no idea how the film got developed. All the still shots were obviously taken with very primitive cameras just like the one described on the post.
A world lost to the insanity of the Cold War, when even the most backward tribes acquired brutal modern artillery, and used it on each other. My elderly cousin, still alive, grew up as a little girl in Kabul when it was so safe that nobody even had doors on their houses; they just hung a blanket in the doorway for privacy. I presume she inherited most of the stunning handmade carpets and items of hammered copperwork that my aunt and uncle brought back from Afghanistan.

[r_a_feldman]

In 1983 I was doing archaeological fieldwork with 4 other archaeologists in southern Peru. We needed photos for ID cards, so we went to the main plaza in Moquegua and had our pictures made by the resident photographer, an old man who used a similar box camera. I still have the paper negatives for the other 4 archaeologists (a scan is attached); each is about 1 3/4 inch by 2 3/4 inch. They are on double-weight paper, so the positive image was made by holding the paper negative on an easel in front of the camera and rephotographing it. The red coloration is for contrast control. Remarkably, the paper negatives have not faded or browned in the intervening almost 40 years, considering that they were washed in a cup of stale water. I wish I could say that my Ektachrome, Agfachrome, and Fujichrome slides of the same vintage have faired as well -- some of them have faded to an overall magenta.

Bob
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