One of my fondest memories of being a kid was art class, especially when I got to make stuff with cardboard. American artist Kiel Johnson takes this idea to a whole other level.
His cardboard creations are just some of his merits as an artist; winning him numerous awards and honors with his work appearing in private and public art collections. His cardboard cameras are clear examples of his skill and talent; all proof of his exuberant engagement with the material, despite his creation of old technology.
One of the best things about creating art with cardboard is that the material is so versatile and relatively easy to work with. The trick is how to get the details right, and Johnson’s work really reaches a level of artistic detail that you can almost imagine being able to grab what he makes and using it for the original purpose of the design. Every detail of the cameras he make gives the cameras a kind of realistic look and feel, and even the older cameras look really well done.
In the two above professional-esque SLR camera creations, the design is accurate to the point that even the lens proportions are pretty close to the actual. Of course, I’m not sure whether the straps are real or not, but every other feature looks like. If it were in the colour scheme of a non-cardboard camera, it could fool anyone into being real.
Looking at the dials and buttons on some of these cameras, you can tell that Johnson was going for a high quality and high level of detailing and accuracy in trying t0 reflect what a camera really looks like and what it would look like in cardboard.
Even for this old school camera, looking at it from the right angle, it’s easy to fool someone into thinking that the camera is functional. You can check out more images below.
You can check out these geeky camera designs, or these cameras that are just plain weird.
