About

Drew Nikonowicz

My name is Drew Nikonowicz, and I have been a photographer for around 10 years now. I was first introduced to large format photography in 2012 in college, and since then I have continued to shoot large format consistently. I truly believe that shooting with a large format camera changes the way we see as image-makers.

Over the past 5 years or so I have been pursuing my artistic career very seriously, with my first significant milestones occurring in 2015 - earning the Aperture Portfolio Prize, and the Lenscratch Student Prize. In both instances, the portfolios submitted were almost exclusively photographs made with a 4x5 view camera. With these experiences and the help of everyone who has assisted me in developing and testing, I believe we have created a simple and lightweight 4x5 that focuses on the features photographers need most.

In 2014 I bought my first 3d printer. Almost immediately I began using it to exclusively try and create a 3d printed 4x5 view camera. The constraints I gave myself were simple - it had to be mostly 3d printed components, no support material required for the prints, and almost everything else had to be available at my local hardware store or easy to acquire. Since then the camera has gone from being a side project, to something I want to share with everyone. I have chosen to keep the price point low to make the camera very accessible. This is also why the design will be open source after we start shipping cameras (more info in the FAQ). I hope to help bring more people to the medium who would otherwise be unable to experience it!