Back to basics with the ‘kanta’

ONE may notice Jeffrey Lim carrying a tin of minyak goreng (cooking oil) like a backpack on his back while carrying a tripod, and wonder what he is up to.

The avid photographer once travelled with his tin on a boat to Belum Forest Reserve for a working trip and was told that he did not have to bring oil with him.

He burst out laughing saying it was not oil but his camera, which he called Kanta.

Lim can also be spotted at bazaars and markets in malls taking black-and-white instant pictures.

The black-and-white pictures Lim took using instant print cameras made from salvaged materials. Lim hopes to capture enough portraits of everyday Malaysians for an exhibition.

He never fails to draw a crowd curious to know how he makes instant pictures in his “dark room” using one of his cameras.

The 37-year-old said the instant camera was his take on the Afghan box camera, called kamra-e-faoree.

“It is practised in other parts of the world such as Brazil, Argentina, Portugal and Spain.

“Different countries have different names for it. However, it is almost extinct,” he said.

He said he watched a documentary on the Afghan Box Camera Project in 2011 and it changed his life forever.

“I quickly contacted one of the people behind the project, Lukas Birk, who shared with me how to make one,” said Lim.

He built his four Kanta instant cameras from scratch using the guide given by Birk.

The prototype Kamra 1 ‘interchange’ mobile unit mounted as a backpack in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

“The way the Afghan box camera is built is too complex and is not mobile, so I came up with my own design that is lighter,” Lim said.

That involved sleepless nights solving obstacles in design.

“Sometimes I’ll fall asleep sketching,” he said, laughing.

“It took me a year to build the first one after much experimenting and research.

“I had to build it in such a way that it could be assembled anytime and anywhere,” he added.

When asked why he chose to make his own cameras rather than use a modern digital one, Lim said it was satisfying to make one himself from scratch.

“There’s a certain charm to learning how something is made.

“You also learn more about photography and know every part of the camera and its functions.

“I love taking pictures of people and printing those images on the spot, and I get to do it all using one camera.

Contents of prototype 1, called Interchange. It is a mobile unit that is able to produce about 200 prints and weighs about 9kg

“I don’t find it tedious at all,” he added.

Lim said it could also be operated remotely with the most basic elements such as wood, lightbulbs and other items one could find in hardware stores.

“So if anything goes wrong along the way, I can easily build a new camera or replace the damaged parts.”

He said the prints could last for a lifetime and survive even floods.

To finance his research and construction of the cameras, he applied for the Krishen Jit Astro Fund and received a seed capital of RM5,000 in 2013.

The fund was created by Astro and Five Arts Centre to encourage and support creative work in Malaysia.

Lim with his four prototypes – Interchange, Foldie, Bulb and Woodie – built using different types of structures and lenses.

Lim has made four prototypes to-date, all largely based on the fundamentals of the original design but modified to be versatile with mobility in mind.

Three of them use flimsies as the outer shell. Flimsies are the old British standard oil cans.

“They were sourced from a restaurant, furniture-maker and biscuit seller,” he said.

Building materials were sourced from recycling wood mills, scrapyards and recycling centres.

The most unusual lens featured is the aqua spherical lens, which is a circular-shaped lightbulb filled with water.

Lim named the project Kanta Box Kamra (kanta is lens in Malay).

He said building the cameras was only one part of the project.

Contents of prototype 1, called Interchange. It is a mobile unit that is able to produce about 200 prints and weighs about 9kg

“I am hoping to capture a unique portrait of everyday Malaysian society. I hope I can collect enough pictures for an exhibition,” he said.

He said his next move would be to go to several pasar malam to capture portraits of people.

“Later, I hope to go to more rural areas to do the same,” he said.

For details, on his project, visit www.kantaboxkamra.blogspot.my