Vanishing Cultures, Documenting Americans With a 35 Foot Camera

Vanishing Cultures is an ambitious photography project by Dennis Manarchy to document people who represent different fading corners of American culture. Their images will be captured by the Eye of America Camera, a unique 35 foot long trailer-mounted film camera that creates massive 4.5 by 6 foot negatives (a working prototype is pictured above). The negatives will be used to create incredibly detailed 24 foot tall prints for exhibition.

Manarchy discusses the project in this interview with Films Not Dead. Manarchy and project manager Chad Tepley are raising funds for the project on Kickstarter.

Two days of preparation results in 1/1000th of a second flash exposure and I have only one chance to get it right. I literally focus half-way down an eyelash. If the subject moves, it’s out of focus…if they blink, it’s a disaster…and if their expression is off the portrait suffers. I must say that the length of time it takes with the subject creates a special bond that I would never want to lose…and that moment is captured in every one of these portraits.

via PetaPixel, ISO1200 & Films Not Dead