Afghan photographers eschew electronics for wooden camera portraits (video)
![](https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/VT8l.D2edq6THQIrv10ylw--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTU3MA--/https://s.yimg.com/uu/api/res/1.2/BhXwt67fvHSTl2zenWEctA--~B/aD0zMTY7dz01MzI7YXBwaWQ9eXRhY2h5b24-/https://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2012/05/wooden-camera-shots.jpg)
If retro-style snaps are worth a billion dollars à la Instagram, what does that say about the value of real prints taken with pre-WWII gear? Reminding us that early cameras were photochemical and shutterless, Kabul is home to two lone holdouts who still practice the 75-year-old art of wooden camera photography. Due to a ban on picture-taking by the Taliban, and then an influx of cheap digital cameras, the number of practitioners of kamra-e-faoree has steadily dwindled. But thanks to the Afghan Box Camera Project, the legacy left by these artisans is being preserved -- not least in the video above. Discover how it all works and then leave the faux-vintage to the hipsters.