Photographers have always known they don't need fancy equipment to take a picture, because many early cameras were nothing more than a box with a hole in it and a glass plate covered with emulsion inside.
So when shutterbugs make their own cameras it's so they can take an unique image with their handmade creation, one that can't be taken or replicated with a normal camera.
That search for an unique image is what led Mich Farrell and Cliff Haynes to combine 32,000 drinking straws into an unusual analog "Straw Camera" that takes the most unusual photos.
Here's an explanation of how their straw camera works:
The straw camera measures 20 x 24 inch, and the two artists have experimented to produce black and white, color, and negative images. They also explored the use of corrugated plastic instead of straws, to achieve a more even effect.
Haynes explains that the straws have a ‘raw’ f stop, where a 254mm long, 22mm wide straw gives an aperture of about f127, which they used as a starting point for exposure. Each straw has its own density and hue, and the analogue creation gives a straight indexical rendering of whatever is placed directly in front of it.
-Via Boing Boing