Artificial Darkness in the Camera, Camera Archivum is a series of

16” x 16”in prints that explore artificial darkness, a dark champer that exists inside every camera. The project documents the mechanical, manual, tactile side of photography that has to some extend been lost today. These works are framed in 3 in deep white wood square box frames with Uv Museum plexi.

Artificial darkness in photography and the dark “room”, the void inside every camera are unexplored areas within analog photography. Creating a visual archive is part of this project and this is achieved through x rays of “all cameras” forming both an archive, a memorial and a visual index of the mechanism that to most remains hidden. The archive will consist of over one thousand cameras and will document the void of camera interiors.  The grant will enable me time to form relationships with institutions and travel to access cameras to record them, some are in personal and some are in institutional collections. Institutions such as the George Eastman  are among the many.

This theme is highly relevant at this time, as we transition into ever more technological changes in photography, changes that always seem to be in flux, most recently concerning ai and photography. As such one might interpret this work as a reminder of the indexical nature of photography and the fact that all cameras have a dark chamber. At the same time we cannot see inside the mechanisms of cameras. 

Used primarily as a teaching tool, and by collectors antique and mechanical cameras offer haptic insights and lessons for new generations who have been used to touch screens. At the same time they have become more popular. They feature analog practices that have been lost to new generations – buttons that one has to press and move at the same time – aperture rings and dials that are non existent on digital cameras are features that help younger generations connect to photography in a different way.

Yet the cultural mythology of certain cameras remains and permeates popular culture, such as the Hasselblad that was left on the moon and the polaroid camera and Diane Arbus’ Roleiflex amongst many others come to mind. This project reminds us of the incredibly complicated mechanisms inside many cameras, while also exposing how simple other cameras, always including the void  chamber in its midst.

The cultural mythology of certain cameras remains and permeates popular culture. For example the Hasselblad that was left on the moon, the polaroid camera and Diane Arbus’ Roleiflex amongst many others come to mind. This project is becoming an archive and aims to grow to include 100’s of camera x rays. My hope is to collaborate with institutions as well in this ongoing project and homage.

The images themselves present us with a complex mass of cables and gears, they remind us of the incredibly complicated mechanisms inside many cameras, while also exposing how simple other cameras, for example view cameras are. Simultaneously Artificial Darkness in the Camera, Camera Archivum will function as a quasi–memorial, an ode to these iconic machines.