Seeing the big picture

AN Image of Hartford Mill taken with the Big Big Camera

2 More Image(s) In Gallery

EXTRAORDINARY images of Oldham taken by an extraordinary camera will be showcased at an exhibition at Gallery Oldham from tomorrow.

Over the last two years, artist and photographer Ian Beesley has been working to re-use the "Big Big Camera", an industrial relic originally used in wallpaper manufacturing, and capture Oldham in a new way. The camera was originally housed at former cotton spinning mill Rome Mill, in Springhead, where it was used by a company manufacturing wallpaper.

Lees Paper Staining Co converted the mill in the early 1930s and installed the Hunter Penrose manufactured process camera, where it remained until 1990 when the mill closed.

As part of the project photographer Ian worked with Gallery Oldham to get the camera operational again, which required specialist restoration of the lens and cleaning.

Thanks to funding from Arts Council England the gallery was able to take the camera out on the road, with a van used to transport the camera around the borough.

Modifications to the van allowed it to double as a darkroom, enabling the slides to be reloaded out in the field ­- a laborious process which meant a maximum of three photographs could be taken in a day.

Mr Beesley said: "This exhibition explores some of the aspects of photography that are now being lost in the digital age. From the sheer physicality of the equipment, to the delicate relationship with light and the uncertainty of success, this is photography in its purest but most demanding form."

The exhibition runs until April 22. Visitors can also join Ian Beesley for a demonstration of the camera on February 15 at 2pm.