The Videre: The Pop-Up Pin Hole Project


Videre: fully assembled


The creator of the Videre, 24 year old Kelly Angood, is sipping elderflower tea somewhere in trendy east London while I’m sipping cold coffee on my cold balcony South of the river; the only place I could get reception for our phone interview.
Kelly is at once warm and funny, putting me at ease, with her Midlands accent via Brighton and London. She explains she has always lived around film cameras and paints me a picture of herself as a child holding a point and shoot from Boots with a caterpillar illustration gracing the front. It wasn’t until the age of 20 that she finally embraced modern digital photography saying both methods have their ‘pros and cons’ and ‘think how many memories were lost before digital?’ Angood believes digital and analogue can and must coexist.
Videre hands The Videre: The Pop Up Pin Hole Project
Videre: self assembly
Perhaps inspired by the caterpillar on her childhood camera rather than the camera itself, Angood went on to study illustration at Brighton University where, in her own words, they let her ‘do what she wants’. Evidently, not a bad plan that seem helped her on the path to the Videre. In her Vimeo video she states simply ‘I knew I’d never be able to afford a proper medium format camera, so I made one’. The Videre was born.
But what is the Videre? Well in the simplest terms, it is a medium format pin hole camera that you build yourself from a template. The kit is printed and die-cut onto thick recycled card and supplied with easy to follow instructions and a spare medium format spool. Angood also plans to produce a short instructional video, which will be viewable online alongside a virtual gallery space where pinhole photographs that have been taken with the camera can be submitted.
I want one. Where can I buy it? Well you can’t just yet because the funding isn’t secured! But the good news is that Angood is well on the way. She has significant funding in place via Kickstarter and has suppliers ready to go. The plan is to have the Videre available in November.
Videre bron select 277x300 The Videre: The Pop Up Pin Hole Project
Videre: image
But it doesn't end there. Angood plans to go on and work with illustrators such as Suzie KempHattie Stewart and Tom Edwards to produce a collectable family of cameras that would sit pride of place amongst all the other design classics. For Angood the camera must ‘look beautiful’ and also act to educate people about the disappearing art of film photography.
The long term plan is to see the flat pack camera kits on sale in the likes of the London Design Museum. With Angood running workshops so people can learn how to get the most out of the pin hole camera creating a perfect first lesson on the path to great photography.
My coffee cup drained and my questions answered I feel enthusiastic for her endeavour and wish her the best of luck.
To keep up with news on Kelly Angood visit her blog kellyangood.co.uk and if you wish to support the kickstarter campaign click on the link below, deadline is Saturday 18th May.
Robert McCaffrey
Article orginally produced for http://photographerlondon.com/blog

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