Karbala -

From time to time he opens the door of a large room to stand among black, silver and red machines of various sizes. He takes them out of their boxes to contemplate them, catch their breath and smell the scent of more than 40 years of collecting things related to cameras and photography.

Photography expert Khalil Al-Tayyar (64 years old) has been keen for decades to buy and acquire photographic equipment and tools that he finds anywhere in the world he visits.

Al-Tayyar, over the years, became one of the most prominent experts in photography and one of the most critics in photography, not in Iraq but in the Arab world.

The pilot estimates that the total number of machines he bought, found or received as gifts is more than 4,500 cameras and camera equipment, the oldest of which dates back to the 19th century.

The pilot checks the oldest camera in his possession, dating back to the 19th century, which is a type of minobox, and it was without a lens (Al-Jazeera Net)

Impact and anecdotes

Al-Tayyar was born in Basra in 1958 and holds a BA from the College of Fine Arts in Audio and Visual Arts, and holds a master’s and doctorate degrees in media and a specialization certificate in (History of Photography) from the Arab Photographers Union, as well as a degree in international public relations from the American University of Beirut.

Al-Tayyar says about his hobby of collecting cameras, that it started from the initial stages of learning the art of photography in the mid-seventies of the last century, and the first trainer was the late photographer Muayyad Al-Salihi, who “taken my hand to study the art of photography, an academic study, during which I got acquainted with the most prominent books of Dr. Abdel Fattah Riad And the International Photography Journal, in addition to introducing me to a course on how to use the camera.”

He pointed out that the first camera he used was a Russian-made "fla" with limited speed and apertures and a fixed lens, which helped him to practice maneuvering using the camera in different lighting conditions.

He added that after that, he bought a camera that contains a zoom or a variable-lens camera, in addition to cameras that have different speeds and apertures that can be maneuvered in different shooting conditions.

Many cameras, different types and models that the pilot acquires and puts in his home (Al-Jazeera Net)

hobby and passion

Regarding the hobby of collecting photography tools and cameras, Al-Tayyar says, "Acquisition of cameras has turned from a hobby to a passion for knowing their secrets, so I traced their models and generations and collected them hierarchically according to the dates of their industries from different origins."

He identifies the types of cameras in his possession, saying that some of them are metal, some are plastic, and some are wooden, pointing out that the first group formed with him made him organize the first exhibition of its kind in Iraq when the number of his cameras reached 100 in 1986.

Since that time, his passion for acquiring cameras has increased. He collects everything related to optics in general, such as binoculars, microscopes, slide models, cinema models, light meters, flashes, and everything related to the world of photography.

He pointed out that he usually devote a lot of time while traveling abroad to search and investigate any machine.

What annoys and disturbs the pilot is that he does not find anyone to support him so that this large group of photographic tools can be located in a fixed museum, bearing the title of Human Memory, even if it is outside Iraq.

The pilot considers what he has a rare collection that deserves a certificate from the Guinness Book of Records, which is not available to many amateurs in the world.

He says that his tools include cameras, photographic equipment, cinematic equipment, imaging equipment, other equipment and optics, in addition to photographs.

Qassem About: Every camera has a story and a story about which the world stands in amazement (Al Jazeera Net)

camera history

The pilot, who won more than 25 awards in the fields of media, education, literature, arts, and directing, director Qassem says about him that he is a “crazy” artist who summed up all his culture and writings with a strange and enviable dream.

He added that the pilot has a fortune that no one knows about and that is far from the eyes of taxes because what is in his hands is the history of the development of cameras in the world, as well as the shape of old and modern lenses in his hands, noting that if the pilot had an exhibition outside the country in Europe, he would have filled the visitors.

He considered that through the collections of the pilot, it is possible to study the development of the art of photography as well as the study of manufacturing materials, and through them it is possible to study the art of lenses and through them we can remember the giant films that were filmed in the world, as every camera has a story.

He considered that the secret of selling some collectibles at auctions with fairy numbers is due to the fact that this camera photographed Hemingway, and this camera took a picture of Bardo, and that camera was between the fingertips of King Faisal I, and that generations of cameras illustrate the history of the camera's development in its relationship to the development of political, social and cultural reality.

Haider considered that what distinguishes the pilot is that he is an artist, critic, consultant and photography expert and is able to read the image professionally (Al-Jazeera Net)

a Record

What increased Al-Tayyar’s interests is the academic study of the art of theater and cinema, as well as the arts of the press and media, which depend on the essence of visual arts and aesthetics of the image, which made him study the techniques of their industries to strengthen the relationship academically by discovering their techniques and areas of use.

Dr. Salah Haidar, the trainer, photography expert and editor-in-chief of Arab Photo newspaper, says, "What distinguishes Al-Tayyar is that he is an artist, critic, consultant and photographic expert, who is able to read images with a distinguished professionalism, and he has a photographic studio in which he provides weekly readings in photography."

He adds that he has known the pilot for 40 years, and since then he has been fond of photography and has been interested in collecting all kinds of photographic and cinematic cameras since the manufacture of the Le Maire brothers' camera and beyond. to the Guinness Book of Records, as he owns the largest photography collection in the world.”

Al-Khuzaie considered that the pilot is qualified to be in the Guinness Book of Records, given the number of cameras in his possession (Al-Jazeera Net)

About the pilot, a member of the Photographers Association, Diab Al-Khuzai, says, "He is an encyclopedic figure who taught us not to get bored and tireless, and to reach the stage of beautiful meanings in the relationship between images and the scene."

And about his quest to obtain the record, he says, "We are with him in this endeavor, and it is the demand of photographers, not in Karbala, but in Iraq." .