Pinhole camera

Summary:

In this film, Graham Howe, founder, CEO and Director of Curatorial Assistance tells us a an amazing story of six men who had a colossal idea, who put their minds to it and said they could do it, and they did it. This is idea was to build the world’s largest camera and consequently produce the world’s largest photograph. To the six photographers involved, Jerry Burchfield, Mark Chamberlain, Jacques Garnier, Rob Johnson, Douglas McCulloh and Clayton Spada, the undertaking is part of something bigger than just a really huge picture. A team of six artists of the Legacy Project and an small army of assistants and volunteers converted an abandoned F-18 jet fighter hanger at El Toro MCAS in Orange County, California into a gigantic pinhole camera, then hung a single, seamless piece of light sensitive muslin cloth from the ceiling of the hanger. Spada presented the idea at a monthly meeting, and the photographers decided, “Let’s go for it!” And so was born The Great Picture project. From 2004 to 2006 the group negotiated with local governments and with the U.S. Government for permission to use an abandoned F-18 fighter jet hanger as a gigantic pinhole camera to produce the world’s largest photograph taken by the world’s largest camera. The photo was created using the centuries-old principle of "camera obscura" after a gumball-size hole was opened in the hangar's wall, allowing a tiny beam of light to enter. On July 8, 2006, after months of light-tightening the hanger, Building 115, the Legacy Project took the plunge. They would have only one chance to do the job right, so they exposed test strips over the course of several days before deciding on an exposure time of 35 minutes through an aperture of 6 mm (approximately 1/4”) onto a single seamless piece of hand-coated light sensitive muslin that was custom made in Germany. It was then covered in 20 gallons of light-sensitive emulsion and became the photographic "negative." Howe recalls seeing the fuzzy, 28-by-108 foot black-and-white image.  The photograph shows a dilapidated air traffic control tower, an overgrown runway and palm trees clustered amid rolling hills. Curatorial Assistance is an arts organization that creates and tours art exhibitions that travel to museums worldwide. Curatorial Assistance also publishes art catalogues and books with particular focus on the photographic arts. Graham Howe is also an author, curator, and artist.