The World's Largest Camera and Photograph

In a world populated with small, compact and stylish digital point and shoots, six photographic artists are going back to the basics of photography with the world's largest camera, which of course has given birth to the largest photograph. Professional studio work and some assignments require the use of large format cameras, but this "camera" is...special.

It's not really a device, it's simply a former airplane hangar converted over a two-month period by the six photographic artists of The Legacy Project into the world's largest camera. The basic principle is simple: expose a light sensitive material via a pinhole to create the desired image. The amazing part is that, in this case, the sensitive material consists of a three-story high by ten-story long fabric. But the size alone is only a small part of the endeavor. After the team hand-applied 80 liters of gelatin silver halide emulsion to the 3,375-square-foot canvas substrate custom-made in Germany, the whole thing had to be developed.

For this task, the Legacy Project, aided by 400 volunteers, artists, and experts employed a custom Olympic pool-sized developing tray using ten high volume submersible pumps and 1,800 gallons of black and white chemistry.

As the press release announcing the premier showing on September 6 to 29, 2007 at Art Center College of Design, South Campus Wind Tunnel, Pasadena, California informs, the photograph shows the control tower, structures and runways at the heart of the shuttered 4,700-acre Marine Corps Air Station El Toro in Southern California, shut down in the base closings of the mid-1990s. Once home to U.S. Marine Corps air operations for the western United States and Pacific region (including Japan, Korea, Vietnam, and the Middle East), El Toro is now being turned into housing and one of the largest urban parks in the western United States.

Here are some specific technical details:

Finished Size: 07'-5" X 31'-5"; 3,375 square feet. Image size: 28 feet x 108 feet, 3,024 square feet in a single, seamless piece of fabric Photograph type: black and white negative image with a gelatin sizing and a hand-coated silver gelatin emulsion Subjects depicted in the photograph: the MCAS El Toro control tower, twin runways, and heart of the future Orange County Great Park, with a backdrop of the San Joaquin Hills and the Laguna Wilderness Location: former Marine Corps Air Station El Toro, Irvine, CA Camera location: Bldg: #115, a former fighter plane hangar that served as a helicopter hangar for the Seaelk squadron during its final days. Camera size: 44'-2" feet high by 79'-6" feet deep by 161'-6" feet wide. Materials used to darken the airplane hangar to make it into a camera: 24,000 square feet of six mil black viscuine 1,300 gallons foam gap filler 1.52 miles of two-inch wide black gorilla tape 40 cans of black spray paint Fabric base of the photograph: single seamless piece of unbleached muslin specially ordered from Germany Total weight of fabric and rigging: 1,200 pounds Aperture size: one-quarter inch (6mm) pinhole-no lens or optics were used Aperture height: 15 feet Date of emulsion coating: July 7, 2006 Emulsion: 80 liters of Rockland Liquid Light-a gelatin silver black and white sensitizer hand-painted onto the fabric under safelight illumination. Emulsion applied on July 7, 2006. Date of exposure: July 8, 2006 at 11am Exposure time: 35 minutes beginning at 11:30 a.m. July 8, 2006 Developing materials: 600 gallons traditional B&W developer, 1,200 gallons fixer Developing "tray": Eight mil vinyl pool liner contained by a wooden sidewall-114 feet X 35 feet X 6 inches deep Print Wash: Twin 4.5 inch fire hoses connected to a pair of hydrants tested at 750 gallons-per-minute

Sanctioned by the Guinness Book of Records as the World's Largest Camera Sanctioned by the Guinness Book of Records as the World's Largest Photograph

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