For over 15 years artist Anna Tomczak has utilized the 20×24 camera to make hauntingly beautiful constructions.   Drawing on a large personal collection of unique and eccentric artifacts Tomczak creates an assemblage that only exists in time long enough to be recorded on large format Polaroid film.   These timeless compositions are heightened by her use of the Polacolor Image Transfer technique.   This process interrupts the normal peel apart development by separating the negative from the positive film earlier than intended and placed instead in contact with wet watercolor paper.   This technique mutes the color and softens the image, producing a more dreamlike and antique sensibility.   See more of her work here:  Anna Tomczak Photography

This week we begin moving the production equipment for 20×24 instant film out of storage and into a new production facility at Belding Mill in Putnam, CT.  We occupy a first floor space in the former thread factory.  The two critical machines we moved are the 20×24 film spooler, a machine converted from an old cast iron printing press.  This machine will re-spool the very large rolls of positive and negative material down to rolls that can fit into a 20×24 camera.  The other machine is the pod machine.  The purpose of this machine is to take the chemical reagent stored in 40 liter tanks and pump it into 22 inch foil pods.  To see a slide show of the move click on this link.

Mammoth Camera Company, owned by Tracy Storer in Berkeley, California has built the first all in one 20×24 camera designed to use Polaroid instant film in over 30 years. Commissioned by a client in Paris, Storer altered the design to allow the camera to break down in three pieces to allow for easier transport. Design and construction took Storer nearly eight months. To see more views of this beautiful machine and photos of the many hand made parts visit Storer’s Flickr site at: www.flickr.com/photos/13984186@N08/

Visit Mammoth Camera’s website at www.mammothcamera.com