108. Winston Churchill + Leica-Mercury Prototype

            
atelier ying, nyc.

My late uncle's Mercury II Model CX and the early Leica A inspire this camera design, a homage to Churchill.

A facsimile of the 18th century seven-petal window above the front door of 10 Downing Street replaces the famous half moon motif of the Mercury. Instead of holding engraved reference charts with exposure times, this window is a religious relic case. However for the less religious Churchill the relic held is a tiny piece of the brownstone house in Brooklyn, New York where his beloved mother Jennie was born. 

Churchill the passionate painter, particularly during his retirement, is matched with a pinhole camera which has the original Tricor lens from the Mercury II, but does not use the patented rotary shutter. The camera's functions are kept as simple as possible to capture landscape scenes impressionistically for Churchhill to paint. The film winding mechanism using roll film is wound with knobs only exposed at the back plate. This keeps the front as sleek as possible, in stark contrast to the Mercury II. The film winding knobs and the front façade recall the Leica A and especially the modern day Leica x1, I take the design of the knob from the focusing wheel of the Leica x1. A geometric base is attached to the bottom, like a Leica grip for the x1. This base has end caps that open out on the sides to store a gold Parker fountain pen and a perfectly humidified Romeo y Julieta cigar. Inside the housing is two tubes, side-by-side so there is room. However the cigar size would be a standard Corona Gorda, size 46 x 143mm, equivalent to that brand's Cuban Exhibicion No. 3.

Making this prototype into a digital pinhole is very possible and would have amused Churchill who could lose interest rapidly. The additional weight would not have mattered as he was never without a valet. But the pinhole and its moody vignetting reminds us of the meditative mind of a painter, as well as the dark rhythm of his late years as a near-clinical depressive. A digital would disrupt everything that we seek to build in this homage. The ability to paint impressionistically by camera would have cheered him. In this respect, an in-camera gallery would have also have been an intrigue. It's for a later design though. 

I am not a fan of the Leica x1. However, it would be an adequate landscape camera. 

A second base attachment with the curved design taken from antique ticker tape machines, makes this camera into a pochade 'sketch' box. The end caps are tabs now on either side and the user pulls out two long strips of round watercolor pans. This recalls the James Bond Attaché of "From Russia With Love" where the strips had gold bullion coins. This also links to my early Bach Goldberg Variations set (for the Sunpet Camera) recalling gold doubloons that J.S. Bach received for his composing work. Churchill would have been amused with these resonances. But the closer link of these strips coming out of the camera base is to the ticker tape machine, as is explained in the last section below.

The large viewfinder is worthy of note. It is a open air "haiku"- styled viewfinder derived from the one in my design for a "flange" viewfinder for my homage to a renown architect whom I admire greatly, Tadao Ando (see my design no. 41-42). The function is exactly the same here, A thin wire across the gap is but a guide for sighting. This simple yet spiritual viewfinder matches perfectly the ascetic function of a pinhole.

The faux shutter button on the right is also of note. It has nothing to do with the shutter, which is simply a slide that one flips over the lens, like most pinholes. The shutter button is a black and gold key from a typewriter. The presentation kit provides a few optional keys, but the prime choice is the letter C, reminding us that Churchill was a writer, (although his main tool was the fountain pen). The presentation case has an electric telegraph practice kit that connects to the camera on the right side under the shutter button. Churchill can practice Morse code, as he was very fond of the tickertape machine. Two of these kits can connect by wire to form a rudimentary communications device. This feature is also part of a James Bond kit I have done and also the recent Tintin Moon cake kit.

This prototype is dedicated to my uncle, a photographer who just passed away a few months ago. Both he and Churchill were born in the year of the dog. 

Design, text and drawing are copyright 2013 by David Lo.

Taken on: September 24, 2013

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Camera: Apple iPhone 5, f/2.4, 1/120 sec, 4.1mm, ISO 64 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Apple iPhone 5
Aperture:	f/2.4
Exposure Time:	0.008 sec (1/120)
Focal Length:	4.1mm
ISO:	64
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Program AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Spot
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	PhotoToaster 2.4.0
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