~Monque

This was news from early 2006 but it's worth presenting here in case it was missed the first time around.



The picture above was taken through an unusual, rather inventive method involving no Photoshop or editing wizardry. Mike Golembewski — who immediately trumps anyone and anything with his threateningly awesome name — effectively crafted a regular flatbed scanner into a digital photography device. If you’ve ever scanned anything, you’ve probably noted the distortion and misalignment which takes place if you move a document in the middle of a scan. By taking that scanner process and melding it with large film format camera, the distortion is effectively translated to the three-dimensional world. Thus, in the picture above, the stationary background is captured realistically and as the human eye sees it, whereas the moving vehicle is captured at different points by the gradually sliding scanner “eye”, creating the eerie juxtaposition of reality and surreality.



What’s surprising to me is this unexpectedly successful idea occurred on his first attempt, befitting of the more interesting “Eureka!” moments in history. He has, of course, honed his process and technique since his initial experiments, turning his work into an artistic development concerned with “examining the relationships between time, motion, and image”, according to Mike. Not to mention his current camera rig can manage 118 megapixels. From his old site:

“The scanner camera that I’m using right now uses the frame of an old Horseman 450L monorail 4×5 camera, which I purchased secondhand with the support of the Audi Design Foundation. The scanning back is an extensively modified Canon LIDE 20, from which I have reomved [sic] the lamp, pinhole lens assembly, and CIS sensor housing. I’ve made the scanner light-tight using duct tape and putty, covered with a hefty dose of black spraypaint. It might look crude, but it works very nicely.”

You hear that? The man used duct tape! For further information and more interesting captures I'd reference the artist's dedicated site on the subject but that went out some time ago. Instead just search for his rather unique name and you're bound to find more details on the subject.