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The iPhone enlarger...the app of luxury

Jonathan Trundle

Friday, October 03 - 2:30PM to 3:30PM
STU 220

While thinking about the ease and consumption of images generated from camera phones and with social media as the method to share photographs I wanted to produce a hybrid mix of the technology where screen based images are mixed with the traditional darkroom printing process for a hybrid image making experience.

I felt it important to create a device that generates successful results through very simple hands on use of equipment. For the device I repurposed a Beseler 23C black and white darkroom condenser enlarger that was designed to accept up to 6x9 sized medium format negatives. The enlarger I used was missing the base and a few small parts when I acquired it so it was the prime candidate for an upcylcling. With the condenser housing removed and a replacement base attached the iEnlarger was almost ready to use. 

The 2.5 inches x 4 inches display area on the iPhone 5 Retina display screen is cropped slightly by the factory spec 6x9 (2.25 inches x 3.25 inches) negative carrier. I created a gate to accommodate an iPhone 5 screen to fit where the condenser would rest and with a little community darkroom courtesy when printing the iEnlarger was ready to use. It has now become a simple to use creative image making device that yields a tactile paper print from images not originally intended for darkroom chemistry printing. 

This approach teaches the students (and myself) about how light travels through a lens, how light can bend and be distorted, the simplicity of bellows focusing, and about a print where the fidelity of the image is altered by the grid of the Retina display screen rather than the embedded silver grain. This approach to printing encourages students to think about a single image that is selected from a multiple Gigabyte collection and the importance of the singular image and why commit it to a paper photograph representation. 


speaker

Jonathan  Trundle
Jonathan Trundle

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