photograph partiality. Katie Emmett.

and so construction reaches its climax.

The above photos show my 10 x 8 sliding box camera, which has taken, albeit enjoyable, a long time.

This camera's construction differed significantly from my 5 x 4 camera due to material choice, wood versus mountboard. The mountboard construction meant I had much more flexibility as I went along, with wood once size and dimensions were decided all the pieces had to be accurate. Although this construction was a steep learning curve it was also one which I wouldn't hesitate to repeat. 

As I said this camera is made from wood, which to me makes it more 'proper' it also means it's quite heavy and being 10 x 8 quite big, which together is quite cumbersome, which makes me feel like a true 19th century photographer with all the equipment to be carried around. A fact I'm sure will lead to further modifications to my shooting methodology. 

This camera has all the 'proper' bits which my 5 x 4 doesn't,

- a proper lensboard - into which the lens screws, and then secured with brackets.

- a knurled nut to operate the back box runner, 

- a tripod platform, this time around the platform is more substantial due to both the size and weight the camera it needs to hold and so that it compatible with the tripod head.

As the wooden article stands now. 

Construction has now commenced on the wooden stage on this endeavour. I’ve encountered some problems due to inexperience of working with wood, but all have over come with help, but overall its an enjoyable experience to be making a camera again. 

The foamboard camera, proves itself.

Here are the results from the shoot with the foamboard camera. Shooting paper negatives, proving the light tight-ness of the foamboard darkslide, being able to work the first shooting process of the 10 x 8 world, and the joy when a image appears in the developing tray. 

The dummy run..

As I'm making this camera from wood, I wanted to do dummy run, to check all the measurements, before cutting the wood pieces. Also leading me to realise just how big this camera is going to be! Which may lead to some logistic problems when it comes to carrying the camera around, we'll see. 

And so to the lens,

As with my last sliding box camera, I'm using an enlarger lens. There's a range of lenses that can be used, some use old brass lens as to really embrace the imperfections. However, although I like the imperfections as they're a big part of what makes this process unique, I still like to have a sharpness to my images, with the imperfections coming from the plates. 

10 x 8 darkslide, 

I did start with a idea of making a double darkslide and all was well, until i encountered warped mountboard, the less said the time its spent under a pile of books and is still warped the better, and so to a rather basic foamboard design.

First completed bit of construction, the focusing screen, It wasn't until this was finished that I really realised quite how big this camera was going to be! You can see here the difference in size from 5 x 4.

The focusing screen is a fairly simple part of the build once the measurements are decided upon. An element which was much easier this time around was the ground glass, when I made my 5 x 4 camera I some what naively decided to ground the glass myself and it took forever!

Whilst being in Plymouth studying, I frequented a new glass supplier who were able to sandblast the glass for me, making this part of the process very straightforward.

and so after finishing my degree back in June, I embarked on a quest to build another camera, a 10 x 8 sliding box camera, however this time around I wanted to make a wooden camera. Things were a bit slow to start but now I'm starting to get somewhere.

When I made my 5 x 4 camera, I was lucky in the respect that i already had the film holders/glass plate holders, so only had to make the camera and focusing screen.

However this time around, I didn't have the plate holders, so I thought i'd have a go at making my own. 

Very happy to say that my work will be part of this exhibition!

    South West Graduate Photography Prize 2013

at Vyner Street Gallery