Inen Rusnan suddenly stopped short. The 78-year-old took a deep breath and slowly blinked his watering eyes when asked about the camera he had used during the 1955 Bandung Conference.

The German-made Leica III camera, produced in the early 1950s, was thought lost. But Inen'€™s wife, Dede Kurniasiah, 68, miraculously found the historic camera in 2013.

Inen was one of only a select band to have the privilege to capture images of the conference, one of the most important events in Indonesia'€™s history.

'€œWe found it behind the water tank in the kitchen at Pak James'€™ house,'€ Inen told The Jakarta Post at his small and modest house in the Cipaganti subdistrict of Bandung, the capital of West Java.

He was referring to his foster father, James AS Adiwijaya, the owner of James Press Photo, who bought him the camera in 1953. The camera is now at the Asian-African Conference Museum in Bandung.

Three weeks ago, Inen and Dede welcomed the Post at their house, where the couple has lived since 1966, a 10-minute walk down a small alley from the nearest paved road.

The house caught fire in 2003 and destroyed hundreds of his photographs from the 1950s and 1960s. Dozens of the pictures that could be saved from the fire are now displayed in the living room, particularly those showing him capturing moments during important events.

'€œI was lucky to find the camera, although it was no longer usable. It was dirty and full of scratches,'€ said the grandfather of 17.

Inen, who speaks with a strong Sundanese accent, is hard of hearing, but his memories of the conference are untarnished by time or age.

He was born to a poor family from Sumedang, West Java, and a Dutchman, Van de Sande Droop, assisted him financially to study until junior high school. In 1943, Inen moved to Bandung, where he met James.

'€œInitially, I was only an assistant at James Press Photo. Then I was promoted to be the operator of the processing of the negative film,'€ Inen said.

Not just tools: A Leica camera, its leather case and an enlarger that were owned and used by Inen Rusnan to cover the Bandung Conference are being displayed at the AAC Museum. JP/Arya Dipa

'€œWhen I was 15, Pak James began to teach me how to take photographs. He said I was disciplined and persistent in learning to photograph, so he assigned me to help him at James Press Photo,'€ Inen said.

Two years later, Inen, who was only 17, was proud to be selected as one of the photographers for the Bandung Conference. '€œAt that time, you could count the photographers in Bandung on the fingers of one hand,'€ Inen said.

He recalled that he would go back and forth up to three times a day between the Merdeka building, where the conference took place, and the James Press Photo, where he would process the negative films.

'€œBeing a photographer was much more difficult than a print reporter. We don'€™t talk much but we keep working, looking for good moments to capture,'€ Inen said.

He recalled that one of the challenges in covering the conference was to identify leaders from different countries. '€œI gathered information beforehand, such as how to identify the specific traditional dress from certain countries and so on.'€

But James was not Inen'€™s only teacher. '€œMy photography teachers included cinematographers and my colleagues from print media. I often went to the cinema to see how film-makers got good angles,'€ Inen said.

Initially, his photographs were published only in local print media, such as Pikiran Rakyat, Sipatahunan and Kempo, as well as the local government and army. But later on, requests from national media in Jakarta came in, followed by interest from foreign outlets.

'€œI did not get direct pay for my work at that time. All the payments were handled by my foster father,'€ he said. '€œBesides, we didn'€™t really need money at that time. There wasn'€™t much to buy, not like today.'€

James also lent him a 125-cc Czechoslovakia-made motorcycle to support his activities.

'€œThat motorcycle made me look awesome, because most people walked at that time,'€ he said, adding that he often took Dede for a ride on the bike. '€œI don'€™t know where it is now. Somebody tried to repair it some years ago and he managed to get it running again. He then borrowed the bike and never returned it to me.'€

In June 2014, local photographers in Bandung organized an exhibition at the Indonesia Menggugat building in Bandung to showcase Inen'€™s photographs, as a token of their appreciation and respect for his achievements.

Inen remains active as a photographer. He is often asked to help document major events such as the commemoration of Indonesian independence, as well as events held by the local administration and the military.

'€œBecause I am not rich, I can only afford a compact digital camera. During one event where West Java Governor Achmad Heryawan was present, he asked his staff to buy me a more advanced camera,'€ Inen said.

He admitted that he struggled initially to learn to use a digital camera. '€œEverything now is automatic,'€ he said. '€œIn the past, we had to work hard to learn how to control cameras. Today, it seems that the cameras are controlling us.'€

His story: Photographer Inen Rusnan, 77, recounts his experiences covering the 1955 conference. He was only 17 at that time. JP/Arya Dipa