Photographer Ignas Kutavicius and his mega hipster pinhole selfie contraption (via Ignas Kutavicius)
A project by photographer Ignas Kutavicius takes the selfie mania to a new level. Actually, it takes selfies not just to a new level, but creates a new form of media, and takes you into a different time period.
Kutavicius has created a pinhole camera for the single purpose of taking selfies that make you look like you're from the 1800's. Truth be told, Kutavicius simply took two things that already existed and put them together ( probably in a drunken stupor), to create something that people are actually raving about in the photography world. I can't recognize whether the interest in Kutavicius's camera is due to people having nothing better to do, or selfie mania, but people actually want to take their selfie with Kutavicius's camera. So, let's give a round of applause to Kutavicius for finding his niche in the market.
With this device you no longer have to spend the time and effort it previously required to take a selfie with your iPhone and create a pinhole effect. In maker terms, this camera is actually a fun project and pretty easy to duplicate. The pinhole camera is created from an empty energy drink can, but you can replace this with an empty of your favorite brew. The small pinhole acts like the lens, and black & white photo paper captures the inverted image obtained from the makeshift lens.
The small, pinhole camera is fixed onto a rig that attaches to the users head so they can take a selfie with no hands. Because the user’s face is closest to the camera, and it is attached to their head, the camera can take a crisp image regardless of slight movements. However, the background will always shift when the users turn their head, so the background comes out blurred. The finished product is a pinhole effect coupled with a fisheye effect that focuses on the user’s face, while giving a surreal image of their surroundings. Basically, the camera takes one hell of a selfie for the hipster nation that must have everything kitsch.
Kutavicius, who's from Sweden, said he made the pinhole camera to combine something new (selfies) with something old (the pinhole camera). He was also surprised when people were interested in his camera and wanted him to take pictures of them. It seems that even Kutavicius underestimated the fickle nature of humans.
Kutavicius has a Pinhole Selfie series that you can view here: http://www.ignasphoto.com/photography/pinhole-selfie/index.html.
Kutavicius notes that he wanted to give an impression of what selfies would have looked like back in the 1800's, but you don't actually have to wonder because The Public Domain Review has found one for us! Feast your eyes on this: http://publicdomainreview.org/collections/robert-cornelius-self-portrait-the-first-ever-selfie-1839/.
Robert Cornelius was the first man to be featured in a documented selfie c.1839. And yes, he was working that camera (figuratively and metaphorically). The moral of this story: play with pinhole cameras because they're fun and easy to use. Maybe a pinhole camera drone is next?
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