H x W x D: 20.4 x 22.7 x 10.6 cm (8 1/16 x 8 15/16 x 4 3/16 in.)
Type:
Sculpture
Label Text:
Alonge’s first professional large format camera was the Imperial Triple Extension designed by British manufacturer Thornton-Pickard in 1903 and popular from the 1910s to the 1930s. It featured a Cooke Anastigmatic (flat-field) lens for glass plates and a triple extension front with leather bellows that extended to 22 inches. This early soft-focus Cooke lens employed a diffusion adjustment allowing the photographer to distribute any degree of softness evenly throughout the plate. The camera bellows, mounting bracket, and wide-angle lens allowed Alonge to photograph large group portraits with sharpness and great detail.
Alonge replaced the Cooke lens with a Congo lens manufactured by Yamasaki Optical Co., Ltd., in Tokyo, Japan. The Commercial Congo lens was made for large-format cameras and was considered best for portrait and tourist photography.
Description:
EEPA Alonge Collection. Large format bellows camera with lens and glass plate at back. Brass fittings and harware throughout. The bellows is made from black leather. One one side is a sticker that reads "Thornton-Pickard, Triple 'Imperial' Extension."
Large format bellows camera with lens and glass plate at back. Brass fittings and harware throughout. The bellows is made from black leather. One one side is a sticker that reads "Thornton-Pickard, Triple 'Imperial' Extension."
Exhibition History:
Chief S.O. Alonge: Photographer to the Royal Court of Benin, Nigeria, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., September 17, 2014-July 31, 2016
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