Jeffrey Lim remembers those days fondly. He’s one of a few Malaysians who still practise the art of silverprint photography: the traditional process of creating black-and-white photographs on silver gelatin paper.
Lim, 46, remembers being entranced by this method while attending a photography module at art school years ago. His friend had used a traditional camera to take a photo of him playing the guitar.
“Just imagine, you have a white piece of paper, then you submerge it in liquid, and the image appears – out of nowhere, like magic,” Lim told FMT Lifestyle. “I still have that photo.”
The Kuala Lumpur-born photography artist began using silver print to connect with his heritage, taking black-and-white portraits of his family members.
“I started research into my family history, which I called Project Roots. The main artefacts I had were black-and-white photos of my grandparents. By learning silverprint photography, it helped me continue telling my family story.”
As a cultural worker, he has certainly been busy: from 2012 to 2015, Lim embarked on a project called Kanta Box Kamra, which saw him constructing box cameras.
He has built about 20 such devices to date, with one of his favourites being a wooden one he affectionately calls “Woody”.
This was followed by Kanta Projects from 2016 to 2019, where he took photographs of indigenous peoples in Malaysia and Taiwan. This project involved travel to many rural and remote locations.
“My darkroom was the night sky in the middle of the forest, and the water I used was from the rivers,” he recalled.
Lim is also the man behind “Building the Beca”, a project that documents the lost art of trishaw making.
Lim carries out much of his work at Kanta Studio, which he established here in 2020, and is a frequent sight at markets and locations in and around KL.
He offers passersby a chance to pose for his box camera – “where do you put your camera in there?” is an oft-asked question – and bring home a unique portrait. He manages 10-15 portrait sessions in a day.
Lim has also been salvaging, restoring and refurbishing his collection of old darkroom equipment. This year, he started a darkroom in Brickfields, as well as Fotografik Van, a mobile studio.
Not one to rest on his laurels, he further plans to conduct more photography workshops in hopes of passing on this dying art to new generations. Most of his photography “sifu” are either very old or have passed on, Lim shared.
While it is possible to find a lot of knowledge on YouTube, he believes there is no substitute for the first-hand sharing of knowledge through one-on-one training.
This is especially true with silverprint photography, a complicated skill where it is necessary to learn through trial and error. For Lim, this technique is a beautiful blend of art and science, and an important way of preserving memories.
“When you snap something on your phone, that’s a picture, not a photograph. A photograph is an artefact that is printed out, a tangible item you can hold in your hand. It has heritage, it’s an heirloom,” he said.
“Yes, we can print pictures now, but silverprint photos will probably outlast us all. And we may not appreciate them now, but many years later, when you look back on a photo, you will be glad you preserved the moment.”
For more information, visit Kanta Studio’s website, as well as Facebook and Instagram profiles.