You might think the technology in your smartphone camera is on the very edge of innovation. The fact is, when it comes to quality, it is still inferior to some of the analog technologies that were made available in the ’70s. It might sound weird, but when it comes to quality, analog photography is still leaps ahead. It’s ever so apparent when you have a look at the world’s largest self-portrait camera. It was put together in the ’70s and was a work of wonder until 1979 when it broke.
A self-portrait can be taken in a number of different ways. Of course you can take it with your smartphone as well, but the size of the picture is always limited. It’s restricted by the resolution your camera is able to capture. When it comes to life-size self-portraits, there are not many cameras in the world that can actually capture that without being sized up or manipulated. There is one self-portrait camera though that really can take life-size self-portraits in the only real way there is.
It’s dubbed the IMAGO1to1 camera, and it is a beast of a contraption. The only version of its kind weighs in at 1.7 tons and takes about a day to assemble and take down. It shoots self-portrait pictures in the size of 60 x 200 cm and prints out photos that will last for over 100 years. The thing is, this original self-portrait camera is too big and too bulky to ship, so it’s stationary in its current place.
Now the daughter of the inventor of this magnificent self-portrait camera, Susanne Krauss, is trying to bring it to life again. Countless numbers of museums, studios and galleries from around the world want to allow people to take their own timeless self-portraits with this camera, but in order to do that, it has to be easier to move and be repaired. Susanne is looking to rebuild the camera from scratch and is seeking funding through Kickstarter. She is looking for £95.000 to build a lightweight and easy to move version of the exact same self-portrait camera. Will it be possible? I guess it is up to people around the world to make that decision. The fact that you will be able to get your very own life-size self-portrait that will last for generations should be incentive enough to at least pledge a couple of dollars.
IMAGO1to1 Self-Portrait Camera
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