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Subscribe to RSSRodrigo Abd, Associated Press writes:
When I was taking pictures for AP in Afghanistan in 2006, I noticed a lot of street photographers shooting with vintage box cameras of a style that was used in the 19th century. At the time, modern cameras were expensive and difficult to find in Kabul, so many people stuck with century-old technology.
Rodrigo Abd / AP
Left: Mayan Queen Matilde Evelyn Ivonne Tzunec Bixcul, 19, representing Solola, in Guatemala's Solola state.
Right: Mayan Queen Maria Magdalena Lucas Lopez, 21, representing San Pedro Soloma, Huehuetenango.
I decided to buy one and the locals showed me how to use it, producing an unmistakably old-timey image — think Hipstamatic, but maybe not so hip, and far from automatic.
Ever since, I’ve been looking for a chance to use the camera on an AP assignment. The opportunity arose last month when I covered the National Indigenous Queen of Guatemala contest in Coban, Guatemala.
Women in the contest wore traditional dress and competed to best represent Mayan culture. One by one, the women sat in front of a black backdrop while I took their portraits, making exposures directly on photo paper inside the box camera. Each had to sit for two minutes while I made the picture.
Rodrigo Abd / AP
Left: Mayan Queen Veronica Leticia Mejia Baten, 15, representing San Pedro Jocopilas, in Guatemala's Quiche state.
Right: Mayan Queen Heidi Sofia Chitop Grave, 15, representing San Miguel Uspantan, in Guatemala's Quiche state.
When I talked to these women, they said they’re competing in this contest to show that Mayan women have a voice and can represent their communities, while also preserving the traditional values of their culture.
I guess I was also preserving something, in a way, with my choice of equipment — which was suddenly hard to find on Kabul’s streets when I returned last year, thanks to the arrival of cheap, point-and-shoot cameras.
Jesus Cuque Lopez / AP
Associated Press photographer Rodrigo Abd manipulates a 19th-century style wooden box camera as he photographs a participant of the Rabin Ajau National Folkloric Festival in Guatemala City.
Musadeq Sadeq / AP
A file image of an Afghan street photographer taking a portrait of a customer with a wooden box camera in Kabul, Afghanistan, on March 24, 2010.
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Ahhh another country we've swept over and changed just slightly to be more like us...Just what the world needs.
Since you ask, yes, the world does need more countries like the USA. Is there any trace "freedom" in Afghanistan?
Is there any trace of "freedom" in the USA?
There is an Artistic Monkey inside. You give him a banana and he draws a picture of the sucker sitting in front of him. Now that's Hi Tech.
SSHHHH!!! Don't give away our Trade Secrets.
What old is new again .....and, film's not dead afterall.
That retro look is fantastic, just don't try to bring back leisure suits.
Nice to see the old film technology still in use. Those photos are awesome!
Clearly a photojournalist. Any portrait photographer would never use a black background so that the subject melts into the background- an 18% gray would make more sense but maybe that was what he was going for. Usually portrait photographers cannnot do photojournalism and photojournalists aren't good at portraiture unless you were Eugene Smith. I love that low depth of field- looks great. Sounds like he gets some fabulous assignments...
The black background and the length of time it takes to sit for the portraits are what make them so striking, so compelling. The low depth of field accentuates this. No color and a stark background make you look at the person, not the room they sit in. Few people can sit still and hold a fake smile for two minutes. The real person comes through in this type of portraiture. Notice how they eyes are so telling in all of the images.
I just don't see it. Outside of the nostalgic aspect of the pictures, I just don't see how these pictures are better than what a modern camera could've produced. In fact, I would argue that a color picture with a high resolution would have been better.
Some of those b/w pics look like they have a lot of color. What am I missing?
Old is not always best, but old is always good
Old is not always best, but old is always good
Years ago I made a special camera myself. I took the front lens assembly off an old Polaroid they don't make film for and mounted it on a Hasselblad lens extension tube I cut down in a lathe. I still use this rig, which is popular in Japan today. It's called a Bokehmaster.
So why is this a front page story? Surely there has to be some news in the world to cover that bests this lame story.
Still a lame story
Putting now and then into perspective...
Let us all applaud human genius - and at the same time, we can all still be grateful as to how far we've progressed from those good old b/w days!