26 24 August 2019 I http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk I subscribe 0330 333 1113
LARGE-FORMAT PHOTOGRAPHY
Landscape photographer
Charlie Waite visited
the Intrepid Camera
workshop with AP to
find out more about how
their cameras are made.
Watch the video at
http://www.amateur
photographer.com or
on our YouTube channel
AmateurPhotographerTV.Andrew regularly heads to the Swiss mountains with his 5x4in
Intrepid 5x4in Mk4, Nikon 150mm f/5.6, 1sec at f/32, Kodak Ektar 100, 0.6 ND gradTheenlargerdevicethatattachestoany5x4in camera
© ANDREW ROBERTS
© NAOMI DAVISON © NAOMI DAVISON
Intrepid founder Max Grew in the workshop
Intrepid camera. This hadn’t
been part of the plan, and
required a fair bit of consideration
on the part of Max and his team.
‘You can’t just size up from 5x4in,’
he explains. ‘You have to start from
scratch again.’ But start from
scratch they did, and the result was
another overwhelmingly successful
Kickstarter campaign. Launched at
the end of May 2017, the £18,000
target was reached in 12 minutes
flat. By the end of the 30-day
period, the camera’s backers had
pledged a total of £220,722.
‘The new version of the 10x8in
camera is what I’m most proud of,’
Max reveals. ‘To create a 10x8in
camera that isn’t expensive but has
high functionality and is fun to use...
the whole team is proud of that.’New addition
This camera is now in its second
incarnation, and it and the 5x4in
have been brought in line in terms
of sharing aluminium bases and
steel linear guides for focusing. Both
have front rise, fall, tilt, shift and
swing, and rear tilt, with the 5x4in
weighing a mere 1.1kg and the
10x8in tipping the scales at 2.5kg.
Things didn’t stop there, either.
The most recent addition to the
Intrepid family is a device that
converts a 5x4in camera into an
enlarger, and can be used with all
film formats up to 5x4in. ‘It wasn’t
an original idea of ours,’ explains
Max. ‘They were made in the
1950s for press photographers
on assignment. I loved the idea of
adapting it for today’s needs. Most
people live in smaller homes, and
don’t have access to darkrooms, so it
seemed like a good idea to give them
the chance to make their own prints.’
As with the previous two
campaigns, the enlarger blew its
£15,000 target out of the water,
garnering £103,982 worth of orders.
And the top-secret new productthat’s currently in development will
no doubt do the same when it hits
Kickstarter in 2020.The future of film
Max has hit a rich seam of interest
in film photography, and at just the
right moment. Why does he think
it’s worked so well? ‘For many
people, digital photography feels
stagnant,’ he says. ‘It’s becoming
increasingly expensive at the high
end, and is very clean cut and
clinical. Plus, we are spending a lot
more time in front of screens, and
that’s not necessarily what people
want to get out of photography.
Film photography is the perfect
balance in terms of grounding you
in the moment, while also creating
images that are as good if not better
than dig ita l.’
Five years on from those first
steps into manufacture, Intrepid
Camera is shipping its carefully
crafted designs all over the world.
Of its sales, 70% are international,
and of those, 50% go to the USA,
while 20% head to new homes in
Europe. ‘We’ve never had fewer than
half of our cameras shipped to the
US each month,’ says Max.
With the whole operation set
to move to new premises on Hove
seafront, and interest in film
photography showing no signs of
waning, where does this leave Max
with his own photography? ‘I do go
out occasionally,’ he says, ‘but my
main passion is designing and
engineering, so I’m in my element
as I get to spend a lot of time
mucking around with ideas and
machines. But the whole team really
enjoys seeing the Intrepid Camera
hashtag on social media. We make
our cameras in our workshop, but
to get to see people making these
incredible images with them is
the ultimate satisfaction.’