This military truck will become a large format camera

It’s hard to believe that a massive military truck can be turned into something beautiful.  But, thanks to a documentary photographer Kurt Moser, this is going to happen. The Ural- 375, which was once a Russian military truck, will get a completely new and unique role – and a more peaceful one.

Thanks to a successfully backed Kickstarter campaign, Kurt will reconstruct a truck so it functions as a glass-plate camera. It will also serve as a darkroom for developing 4.9-foot glass plate photographs. The goal of his project is to capture the legendary Dolomites mountain range in Italy in all its beauty and glory, and create gigantic silver images.

Kurt has even managed to get the extremely rare APO NIKKOR 1780mm lens – one of ten that exist in the world. He plans to mount the lens on a movable bellows at the front part of the truck. As he says, by this he has overcome one of the biggest obstacles to his project. This lens can help him make images that are up to 150 cm in size. Images this large will definitely capture the glory of the famous Italian mountain range.

He will modify the truck so it has greater stability and suitable space for the construction of the camera. He will provide hydraulic support for extra stability, and a customized box-type cabin for exactly right working height. Inside the cabin, he will insert huge glass photo plates, movable in three axes. They will be coated with pure silver by using special tanks. These tanks will also help the final fixing of the image.

Once the truck is done, Kurt will use it to “immortalize the light of the Dolomites on silver and glass and make it accessible to all the world.” To be honest, I’m anxious to see the results!

What do you think of Kurt’s project? Do you think it will work?

[Animation Ural EN via DigitalRev]