Photography in Kazakhstan

I know this is a bit out there, but I am contemplating a move to Astana the Kazakh capital. Does anyone know if it is possible me to get supplies, darkrooms etc out there?

you will learn when you arrive there , I bet all soviet cameras been collected for 50 cent each and went to Europe 20 years ago. I think you can find Smena or Tasma film there still fresh. There is Canon Kazakistan site , you can contact with them and ask your questions.
During your visit , you can expect 20 officials watching your every move Kazakistan is advanced country and you can order everything from Russia or shops.

Mustafa Umut Sarac said:

you will learn when you arrive there , I bet all soviet cameras been collected for 50 cent each and went to Europe 20 years ago. I think you can find Smena or Tasma film there still fresh. There is Canon Kazakistan site , you can contact with them and ask your questions.
During your visit , you can expect 20 officials watching your every move Kazakistan is advanced country and you can order everything from Russia or shops.

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Thanks for the advice. I really wanted to know whether it's worth shipping out my enlarger and film developing tanks etc, can I pick it all up for cheap there?

What do you mean about the officials??? I've heard there's a lot of beaurocracy out there... I'm a bit worried that if I want to spend a day a week taking, printing, and selling photos I won't be allowed - assuming I have a work visa.

Where do you live ?

Shipping charges can be very high or low with selecting the airway company.

I met with a man from Kazakistan with a very big toy auto and he says kazak airways charges very low , 50 dollars for enlarger size toy auto.

I bet you cant find any high quality enlarger , lens , camera , tank etc there. Russia charges dollar for these equipment and really hard to trust their websites and product quality.

Tasma is friendly and if you keep asking for prices , they responds at third time. They sell 35mm aero panchromatic film in big rolls but very cheap.

Cinema equipment is cheaper than photographic cameras and you can buy a 16mm krssnodar movie camera and use as single frame and than send to Mosfilm Moscow for processing and scan.

Mosfilm is worlds best , you can buy a russian 35mm cine film camera and lomo lens and go.

I bet you will live great difficulty , expenses and malfunctioned products at photography.

Russian mafia collected everything and sold to east europe and they sold to west and than to america.

Ukranian sites are very expensive also.

Buy a good Bolex 16 mm camera and few lenses for 200 dollars and take single frame and send to moscow for processing. Few thousands of frames and cost you 40 dollars.

I bet nobody invest bw art there and they love strong colors and digital feel.

I think most lightweight solution with high quality isa digital camera body and lomo lens anamorphic.

If you want to invest in cine cameras , 35mm Konvas was on ebay for 75 dollars , before go there , register to konvas mailing list , there is rafael pankreatu from ukraine and oleg from ukraine is extremelly knowlegable about mounts , motors , synch , electric , mechanical parts of these cameras.

Your best bet is cine cameras. You can order books from VGIK moscow institute of cinematography.

Cinema . wow !

I asked my niece (nephew's wife) who is from Kazakhstan and who still has family there. This is what she said:


Will let you know if she finds out more.

I wouldn't hold my breath.
Countries from eastern Europe have let down film for digital so fast, I doubt you'll be able to find one single roll of any film, let alone darkroom supplies.

Wow, thanks for all the really helpful replies everyone.

Not encouraging news. My niece browsed through photo related forums and could not find any specifics on darkroom or film photography. Doesn't mean there isn't any, but probably not high profile. One person did respond, saying that "he didn't have anything related to traditional photography and didn't think anyone in town had something like that.". Of course, many photographers here are painfully unaware of traditional, film-based photography.

Countries from eastern Europe

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What Kazakhstan has to do with Eastern Europe?

i hate to suggest this, but maybe you should buy a speed graphic or similar press camera
and if things get difficult to procure you can shoot negatives and make contact prints.
and if you run out of film you can expose paper negatives. contact prints are easy to make with a light bulb
no enlarger needed and 4x5 contacts are really beautiful ...if worst comes to worst you can do as i do,
and process your film in a tray, i use caffenol c because it is easy to find the ingredients ( coffee washing soda and vit c )
if you can't find washing soda, get baking soda and dry it out in the oven ... you can also print with this, some eliminate the vit c for prints.
sounds like like a fun trip !

good luck !
john

That's an interesting idea. I already enjoy making 6x6 contact prints. I like the challenge of taking pictures that will stand out at that small size.

I asked my niece about mailing and mail order. She told me it typically takes a month or more for items to reach Kazakhstan from the US. Faster the other direction. No info on online orders from the US.

Thanks for all the interesting replies - including the people who PMed me. The Kazakhstan trip is now off, at least for the time being. It's hard to get work out there, so I would likely have ended up without any meaningful employment while my partner worked. Thanks again though, I have had some interesting thoughts arising from the discussion.

I asked my niece about mailing and mail order. She told me it typically takes a month or more for items to reach Kazakhstan from the US. Faster the other direction. No info on online orders from the US.

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It takes more than 3 weeks with registred mail and more than 5 weeks with cheap amazon order to reach from US to Istanbul. Same as Kazakistan traffic.

I dont know how mobile phones and mobile internet works at there but cell phones takes 25 mp images , and there might be lots of internet cafes.

I learned internet so slow at china , kb speed at few hotels .

If you want to work at there , you might have a lots of paper work , long wait time and salaries feel low.You must learn Turkish and Russian also. Ukraine is a lot better place or Russia. Salaries for translators starts from 3000 dollars. Start to learn SLAVIO - Basic latin letter slav language which been used from Poland to Japan border , 400 million speakers. There is a site for it and lots of tutorials FREE.