PHOTOGRAPHERS

You can check out the portfolios of the photographers we met in Afghanistan by clicking on the menu bar at the left-hand side of the screen; photographers are grouped under the city they live or work in.

Whether or not the photographers we met used the kamra-e-faoree camera exclusively or combined it with other types of photography, all shared a common title: akaas (عکاس) which means photographer in Dari.

The older studio-based photographers we present portfolios of here tended to be trained in large format film photography while the street-based photographers working from a regular pitch with the kamra-e-faoree usually didn't have this kind of training. Photographers were also using SLRs such as Zenits, Canons, and Yashicas; though the newest generation of photographers in Afghanistan more often than not have only have been schooled in digital technology.

Below is a provisional 'family' tree of photographers in Afghanistan spanning about a century. It is based our on our own interviews and has been cross-referenced with the research of scholar May Schinasi. It gives an idea of who passed on the trade to whom. You'll find the portfolios of many of the photographers shown in diagram in the menu bar on the top-left of the screen.

.................................................................................TO ENLARGE CLICK ON PHOTOGRAPHER TREE