Meet the Photographer Who Turned a Camper Into a Giant Camera and Darkroom

What's the biggest camera you've shot with? If you're like most of us, you might have dabbled with medium format or if you're really passionate, maybe even a 4x5 or 8x10 large format camera. This photographer is putting all of us to shame with his camper that he converted into a giant functioning camera and darkroom.

Coming to you from Wex Photo Video, this interesting video documents the Caravan Camera, the creation of Photographer Brendan Barry, who bought an old pull-behind camper and spent three weeks converting it into a functioning camera and darkroom. The Caravan Camera has a large format Nikkor 760mm f/11 lens (along with other lenses, including a bonkers 1,210mm f/12.5 lens) and currently uses 16x20 paper negatives to cut down on costs, but Barry notes the image circle of some of the lenses combined with the camper's size would easily allow him to create negatives of around 2 meters per side. As you'll see in the video, however, it's less about the technical boldness of the project and more about the interactions it brings, with people flocking to see the unique camera and the process behind it. 

You can see more of Barry's work and some portraits taken with the Caravan Camera on his website and Instagram.

[via ISO 1200]

Alex Cooke's picture

Alex Cooke is a Cleveland-based portrait, events, and landscape photographer. He holds an M.S. in Applied Mathematics and a doctorate in Music Composition. He is also an avid equestrian.

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5 Comments

Very cool.

Awesome stuff.

WOW !

Great video. I love how he articulates the educational benefits of using this camera to teach the fundamentals of photography with real world examples rather than the theoretical.