The Amanda Means 20x24" Camera and Enlarger, 2022
Commissioned by artist Amanda Means, 2017 Guggenheim recipient, to facilitate an ongoing photographic project. She asked for a 20x24" camera that could produce conventional film photographs as well as be used as an object enlarger. She needed a movable, lightweight camera as well as a structure sturdy enough to support the 36" light box component of the enlarger. The enlarging light box allows Means to use this to project 3d objects onto photographic paper using a cold head LED light source.
As a design challenge, these constraints were at odds with each other. Air-dried mahogany aged for over 50 years was the first step toward finding equilibrium, and ultimately I settled on a box-within-a-box design, keeping the camera extremely streamlined and simple and based on my favorite Scoville Adams field camera. The boxes and box frames support each other, eliminating the need for a lot of heavy metal. The boxes slide on top of a simple rail, so there are no rack and pinion gears.