Nicholas makes a little piece of history – by building classic camera

A University of Northampton student has shunned the digital revolution and built his own piece of photographic history.

Nicholas White spent six weeks constructing his very own camera, which is based on the ultra large format designs that were popular between the 1860s and 1900s.

“In the summertime I was really struggling with coming up with some ideas for my final project,” said the final year Photography undergraduate, who comes from Bury.

“One of my friends mentioned he had seen some ultra large format cameras online. I took a look and instantly fell in love with them and just wanted to build my own. I spent a couple of months refining my ideas and then took around six weeks to build it.

“It’s been difficult, getting the finer details right, but at the same time really rewarding and I’m really pleased with the result.”

Nicholas added: “The pictures I’ve taken and developed have been very different. Some have been quite clear and others a little bit hazy. My overall project is about memories, and we don’t see memories as perfectly clear images in our head, so the photos fit that concept. The imperfections on the images add to the experience of viewing them.

“When I first used the camera, I was expecting it to take around 10 minutes to capture an image, but actually, if you are outside, in bright conditions, it takes only a second.”

Nicholas’s camera and images will be exhibited at the Faculty of Arts, Science and Technology Degree Show, held at Avenue Campus, between Saturday 9 and Friday 15 June.