Photography Firm Brings ‘Potato Quality’ Images Out Of Memes Into Real Life
At a time when less than high-definition photographs are often referred to as “taken with a potato,” the minds at infrared photography firm Kolari Vision decided to put the common adage to the test—by developing a camera actually made out of the starchy vegetable.
While Corridor Digital was the first to create a “potato camera” years ago, the team at Kolari set themselves an even loftier goal of coming up with a potato lens and potato camera body that would merge to form a 100% potato camera.
To achieve this, the company partnered with autochromist Jon Hilty, who brought his years of experience with the autochrome process to the table. This allowed the duo to make use of historic autochrome film plates—made with potato starch—to produce the photographs.
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According to PetaPixel, the autochrome method, which was invented in the 20th century, involves using microscopic red, green, and blue-colored potato starch grains to record color plate images. Light filters through the grains, placed atop the plate, forming full-color positive transparencies.
The final result of this endeavor? A one-of-a-kind device that “truly captured the essence of the potato.” And despite the documentary being released on April 1, this is no April Fool’s joke. Watch the entire process in action below.
[via PetaPixel and Kolari Vision, cover image via Kolari Vision]
