Miroslav Tichý's Homemade Camera

Posted by Alex in Arts & Crafts, Pictures on May 24, 2008 at 2:03 pm



Untitled, 1950 – 1980 by Miroslav Tichý

What’s so interesting about an old blotchy photo of a woman’s face? It’s a photograph taken by Miroslav Tichý, one of the greatest "finds" of unknown artists who worked on the fringe of the art world.

Tichý was born in 1926 in what is now the Czech Republic and studied painting at the Academy of Art in Prague until one day in the 1960s he was thrown in prison camp for no particular reason other than that he was "different" and was considered subversive. Eight years later, he was released and spent his days taking photos of women – at times surreptitiously while they were sunbathing (which landed him in trouble with the police when he got caught).

But that’s not why he’s on Neatorama: it’s how he took those photos. Tichý couldn’t afford a camera, so he cobbled one up from tin cans, children’s spectacle lenses and other junks on the street!

Link | Miroslav Tichý’s photos at Michael Hoppen Gallery | Tichý with his homemade cameras at his official website


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8 comments to "Miroslav Tichý's Homemade Camera"

  1. priscilla
    May 24th, 2008 at 2:45 pm

    My first middle school photography class assignment was to make a camera out of a shoe box. Some made cameras out of film canisters. Really, all you need is a light tight box, a pinhole for the lens and a place to put your film.

    Anyways, its cool how he made it out of those things, though!

  2. Christophe
    May 24th, 2008 at 2:50 pm

    A stalker with a camera. hu...

    More seriously : if you have the chance to be in the south of France this july, don't miss les Rencontres d'Arles (Arles encounters). This photography show is always highly interesting.

    http://www.rencontres-arles.com/ARL/C.aspx?VP3=Renderer_VPage&ID=ARLP1 44

  3. CheeseDuck
    May 24th, 2008 at 3:04 pm

    Huh. Never knew you could make cameras that easily.

  4. Carl
    May 24th, 2008 at 5:33 pm

    The cameras are as much pieces of art as his photographs. Pretty amazing.

    And sure, it's simple as pie to make a pinhole camera. There's a biiiiiiig range of steps between those and the latest and greatest digital camera, and this guy found a great DIY niche.

  5. Vik_7
    May 24th, 2008 at 9:03 pm

    Dunno, I find it hard to believe that in 1968 communist Czech republic there would be anyone not able to afford a cheap used soviet or german camera.
    He still had to buy film and chemicals to process it (unless there's another story how he made film and chemicals himself from dirt on the streets).

    Overall, imho, this is just a nice story attached to a few messed up images with some nods towards pictorialism.
    But since some "artists" deemed this as "art", well I guess it definitely has to be "art".

  6. Chris C
    May 24th, 2008 at 10:40 pm

    no wonder why the picture looks like crap! hehe

  7. Tim Giachetti
    May 26th, 2008 at 5:05 am

    All I see is a hippy peeping tom. Being a hippy is ok, but the pics of the sun bathers def shows it wasn't art he was after.

  8. ted
    May 26th, 2008 at 8:36 pm

    I just find myself wondering if he ever stuck his penis in that lenshole.


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