This one hundred year old camera has darkroom procedures embedded into itself and as its owner takes a photograph you begin to see the magic of drawing with light revealed all over again. Occasionally we need to remind ourselves how things work and how equipment that we take for granted is actually made. As we do so perhaps we will become aware that many of these devices are actually extensions of our own bodies. The stomach of this light machine being recycled plastic bottles, that now hold the developer and fix. The body of the camera is just that, a body. But it is also a room, a camera obscura or 'dark chamber', a room that morphs in size, so that when a hand enters into it, it compacts down to form a chest, but when looked at through the viewfinder that sits in its ceiling, it becomes the size of an art gallery. Its legs are adjustable, it can kneel as well as stand upright, tilting in sympathy with what it gazes at. As the photographer's hand enters the camera's side through a many times repaired flexible tube, we are confirmed in our awareness that this camera is the body's extension; the man and the camera becoming one. They are in effect folded into each other. Haji Meerzaman 'wears' his camera like a second skin.
The eye of this camera is based on the ones in our heads and as it opens itself to its user it reveals all the traces of their life long intimate connection. A clothes peg becomes a second pair of fingers to hold an extension in place, a black and white patterned fabric a second skin to envelop the hybrid animal as it transforms into the 'cameraman'.
A red filter is used so that the inside of the camera is lit with a red safety light, as any normal darkroom would be, but it also reminds us that our insides too are red.
Haji Meerzaman tilts the camera in order to get a better composition.
The developer and fix sit in the bowels of the camera
This sliding attachment is used to mount the photographic paper and to move it forwards and backwards in order to focus the image on the paper surface.
Haji Meerzaman's hand feels as old as his camera. We can just see the red glow of the safety filter light to the left.
Two cardboard inserts are used to hold the bottom of the photographic paper in place, one of many repairs and adjustments that have been made to the camera over the years.
A many times repaired flexible tube emerges from the side of the camera. Haji Meerzaman's arm is fully covered as he feels his way into the dark enclosure of the camera, so that he can position the photographic paper and after his shot is taken, he will again snake his arm through into the camera's belly, this time to develop the paper negative.
The side of the camera is opened to show how the hand emerges into the operating space
Haji Meerzaman checks the focus while sliding the paper holder backwards and forwards.
As you pick up your digital camera or mobile phone, perhaps you can sense a similar thing happening. You are in effect extended into your device, a coupling of animate and inanimate beings creating a new hybrid. This is a form of contemporary animism, on old idea that has been with us for thousands of years, but which perhaps now requires revisiting. This man and his camera have grown old together. As the camera has broken through the normal wear and tear of use, he has repaired it over and over again. The popularity of BBC One's 'Repair Shop' testifies to the fact that we recognise the need to preserve things and that the life of things is deeply entwined with our own. As artists and makers everything we produce is similarly an extension of ourselves into inanimate matter, each artwork 'speaking' for us and continuing to speak for us even as we return back into the earth from which we came. The participants in 'the Repair Shop' often speak of their objects as family, as if their grandmother or grandfather in some way remains alive in the object brought in for repair. This is of course about love. If we are to value the world beyond ourselves, we need to be able to develop affection for all those things that are not us; trees, birds, streams, pebbles, pigs, landscapes and clouds, as well as old cameras and our mobile phones.
Using wood as a protective case is a great idea. These cameras were made at a very early age by using wooden frames. But nowadays, there are some of the best wood phone cases in the market. As we know woods are durable and light in weight you can use them to keep your phone safe. People are still sticking to the old concept but elevating them with new ideas.
Using wood as a protective case is a great idea. These cameras were made at a very early age by using wooden frames. But nowadays, there are some of the best wood phone cases in the market. As we know woods are durable and light in weight you can use them to keep your phone safe. People are still sticking to the old concept but elevating them with new ideas.
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