Wayne Martin Belger is an artist whose projects are time consuming and ultimately hugely rewarding, not only for him, but for his audience. He creates some of the most unique and stunning sculptural and photographic work I have ever seen. When Belger chooses a subject to photograph, he starts from the very earth the subject grew in. He makes a pinhole camera using items of significance for his subject – relics and materials that represent or are directly connected with the person or things he will photograph. He constructs complex and beautiful cameras of organic and inorganic materials so that when he takes the photo, the image is interacting with parts of the subject both outside and inside the camera. Belger uses pinhole photography rather than lens photography – this way, there is nothing interfering with the light reflecting off the subject onto the film, no mediators or manipulators. In an age of digital photography, this dedication to the bare science of capturing light on film is both astounding and impressive. His cameras are works of art, and the photos he captures with them are haunting. Check out the works of Wayne Martin Belger below…
Designed to study the beauty of decay.
4″x5″ camera made from Aluminium, Titanium, Brass, Silver, Gem Stones and a 150 year old skull of a 13 year old girl. Light and time enters at the third eye, exposing the film in the middle of the skull.
Designed to study the Passions of Abraham by capturing images of Imams, Priests, and Rabbis holding a Koran, Torah or Bible, in front of a Church, Mosque or Synagogue. Different man, different book, different building.
4″x5″ camera made from a solid block 6061 T6 Aircraft Aluminium inlayed with a piece of the Bible from 1860, a piece of the Koran from 1960 and a piece of the Torah from 1880. The jagged piece of metal in the front of the camera with the pinhole in it was once part of a support beam holding up the South Tower of the World Trade Center.
CLASSIC
4″x5″ Camera made from Aluminum, Steel, Insects, and Turn-of-the-Century Cameos.
DEER
Designed to study the core ritual of the hunt and man’s arrogant separation from Nature.
4″x5″ camera made from Steel (3/4″ plate found in the desert near Mexico), Brass (parts from an 1800’s gold scale and bullet shells), Bronze, Copper (Bullets), Aluminum, Antler and Ivory (carved hand from a 18th century Christ figure).
DRAGONFLY
Designed to study and photograph time segments of children.
4″x5″ camera made as an altar for a 9 year old girl that passed away. Made from Aluminium, Steel, Acrylic, Insects, and other relics.
HEART
Designed to take photos of soon-to-be mothers who are at least 8 months pregnant, and explore my relationship with my twin brother who died at birth.
4″x5″ camera made from Aluminium, Titanium, Acrylic, Formaldehyde and an infant human heart.
HIV
Designed to study and photograph a geographic comparison of people suffering from HIV.
4″x5″ camera made from Aluminium, Copper, Titanium, Acrylic and HIV positive blood. The blood pumps through the camera then in front of the pinhole and becomes my #25 red filter.
ROADSIDE ALTAR
Designed to study beautiful altars created at points of tragedy.
A collection of Roadside Altars from the US and Mexico all shot with the Roadside Altar Camera. All titled by their GPS location. The total collection is around 200 photos. All are toned 11″x14″ gelatin silver prints.
WOOD
Designed to study distance.
The Wood Camera is made from Wood, Aluminum, Copper, Steel, Acrylic, and Insects. Most of the camera parts were found in Death Valley, CA. The camera has an interchangeable front plate used to float objects in front of the pinhole. With pinhole photography the focus is infinite. Objects which are a quarter-inch in front of the pinhole are just as in focus as objects 20 miles away.
YAMA
Designed for the study of exodus and for the research of modern incarnations of historical iconic figures.
The latest camera is named Yama, the Tibetan God of Death. In Tibetan Buddhism, Yama will see all of life and Karma is the “judge” that keeps the balance. The skull was blessed by a Tibetan Lama for its current journey and I’m working with a Tibetan legal organization that is sending me to the refugee cities in India.
Yama’s eyes are cast from bronze and silver with a brass pinhole in each. A divider runs down the middle of the skull creating two separate cameras. A finished contact print mounted on copper is inserted in to the back of the camera to view what Yama saw in 3D.
Yama is made from Aluminium, Titanium, Copper, Brass, Bronze Steel, Silver, Gold, Mercury with 4 Sapphires, 3 Rubies (The one at Yama’s third eye was $5000.00), Asian and American Turquoise, Sand, Blood, and 9 Opals inlayed in the Skull. The film loading system is pneumatic. A 300psi air tank in the middle of the camera powers 2 pneumatic pistons to move the film holder forward and lock it into place. The switch to open and close the film chamber is located under the jaw.
Designed for two photo series. First series is of my interpretation of the modern incarnation of Southeast Asians deities. Second will take place in the Tibetan refugee cities of India, a home coming through the eyes of a 500 year old Tibetan.
YEMAYA
4″x5″ underwater pinhole camera made from Aluminium, Acrylic, Brass, Sea creatures and Pearls. An altar to the Santeria Goddess of the ocean, Yemaya, is inside the back of the camera.
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