This series focuses on those who take the making of pictures a step or two further, creating their own photographic tools.

Bailey Edward Russel, Laramie, WY

Bailey Edward Russel spent years in New York City converting entire rooms into camera obscuras, making exposures of the view directly onto color negative photo paper. But when he moved to Wyoming in 2012, he no longer had access to two vital components: tall buildings with good views, and a color paper processor. Ever the adaptable artist, Russel embraced these limitations and repurposed a mobile trailer—something he never could have owned in New York—into a mobile camera obscura.

The Wells Cargo box trailer is fitted with a Nikkor 760mm lens. Inside the camera a 30 x 40 inch adjustable screen suspends black-and-white photo paper onto which he makes exposures. The camera initially functioned as a teaching tool, but when Russel began a new project documenting the alley ways in his hometown, he found the trailer camera obscura a perfect fit—literally—in that the trailer filled the alleys entirely, blocking traffic, and allowing him to observe the private/public spaces of people’s backyards.

The lens projects a circular image roughly 50 inches in diameter, resulting in images with lovely large vignettes. These black-and-white photographs are quite different aesthetically from the crisp, color photographs of rooftops in the city, and yet Russel’s sensibility is unchanged—he observes his world projected upside-down and backward, making sense of the chaotic city or the radical change in environment through the same meditative process.

View more of Russel’s work on his website.

Have you made or modified your own photographic equipment? Let us know at info@donttakepictures.com