This Book is a Camera

What can paper do?

This is a working camera that lives in a pop-up book. The book concisely explains—while actively demonstrating—how a structure as humble as a folded piece of paper can tap into the intrinsic properties of light to produce a photograph.

This Book is a Camera concisely explains-while actively demonstrating-how a humble structure can tap into the intrinsic magic of how light works to produce a photograph (without electricity, optics, or chemicals.)

Use with free light meter companion app for iOS: http://app.thisbookisacamera.com. Process photos using instant coffee and baking soda in a closet or dark bathroom.

The book includes:
– An assembled pop-up 4 × 5″ paper camera with pinhole lens
– A lightproof bag with five sheets of photo paper
– Development instructions

A working all-paper pinhole camera in a pop-up book-a fun and educational way to learn about light and analog photography.

Kelli Anderson

“Kelli Anderson is one of the most talented, thoughtful, inspiring young designers working today, bringing to each project an artist’s flair, a scientist’s rigor, and a philosopher’s deliberation.” —Maria Popova, Brainpickings

Kelli Anderson is a designer and paper engineer whose work operates in the space between conceptual art, graphic design, and tech. Her whimsical books have featured a working paper planetarium, a pop-up pinhole camera, and a paper record player. Whenever she can, she uses humble, lo-fi materials to expose the invisible magic of the world and make abstract concepts “real” and tangible.

Kelli’s work puts forth the idea that lo-fi, handheld experiences can challenge the notion of tech as an inaccesssible black box. Her first book, a functional pop-up camera titled, “This Book is a Camera,” was published by the Museum of Modern Art in 2016. Her paper record player invitation, her TED talk, and her work on Tinybop’s “The Human Body” are widely-beloved for showcasing the possibility hiding in plain view in our world.