THE SKYSCRAPER CAMERA PROJECT Now Available on Vimeo

The Skyscraper Camera Project [Full Film] from Favorite Child Creative on Vimeo.

The Skyscraper Camera Project, a documentary about the transformation of one of New York's iconic skyscrapers - 101 Park Avenue - into a camera obscura, courtesy of UK-based artist Brendan Barry and Favorite Child Creative, is now available on Vimeo.

Capturing breathtaking footage of New York City's signature vista of massive, cloud-puncturing buildings, the film places the viewer 46 stories up and higher for a rare perspective on the possibilities of photography.

Directed by Nicholas Kalikow, the film captures very special behind-the-scenes elements of creating a giant camera with built-in darkroom capable of producing both direct positive and negative analogue photographic prints up to 45" x 93" along with a multi lens immersive camera obscura installation. Barry noted, "Working collaboratively at this scale allowed us to create a series of completely unique large scale images of the New York skyline like nothing seen before."

Produced by Nicholas Kalikow, Diane Richey and Kyle Roper, DoP Dagen Merrill.

The Skyscraper Camera Project-a site-specific installation consisting of creating a camera obscura using a 27,000 sq. ft. skyscraper floor, blacking out 160 windows and outfitting many of them with lenses, then taking and developing large format images - had its genesis when director Nicholas Kalikow first saw Brendan's works.

"When I witnessed his ability to transform 'literally anything' into a camera, our client (101 Park Avenue) had rarely-available space on the 46th floor of its building that showcased amazing, 360-degree views of the Manhattan skyline, I thought, '...this is crazy, but why not?'," Kalikow explained.

"The building loved the idea, we enlisted Brendan, and the Skyscraper Camera Project was born. It was important to make this an opportunity for community partnerships and outreach and we found the perfect matches with Aperture Foundation & Red Hook Labs. Brendan's method and aesthetic of combining traditional camera obscura photography and education, with modern, cutting edge conceptual art, makes him one of the U.K.'s most exciting and promising young artists, I can't wait for his body of work to grow," Kalikow noted.

On the final day of the project, on the plaza of 101 Park Avenue, Barry took large format portraits of passersby with a camera made out of a scale model of the building.

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