Site Specific Cameras
Site Specific Cameras combines photography and land art. We build large cameras out of materials found in given landscapes and then use them to photograph that landscape. If we want to photograph the forest, the camera is likely made of materials such as logs, sticks, leaves and dirt. We always use a found aperture, something with a preexisting tiny, roundish hole. In this way the physical components of the landscape, feedback into the character of the camera and the final photograph. The cameras are also large enough for one of us to fit into. We act as the mechanical parts of the camera, like the shutter and film advance.
We have spent the last few years using this process to catalogue the varied landscapes around the San Francisco Bay Area. Recently, we expanded the project to other regions of California and beyond.