I came across Hyun-seok Sim and his beautiful cameras recently; I found them so delightful that I just had to share them here. Sim is a highly accomplished metal worker and designer; cameras are only a part of his art. But aren’t they little gems? I asked Sim for a couple of photos to show here but his website has a far more extensive set of photos of his remarkable little instruments. He also provided a couple of scans about his work that I hope you will find interesting reading.
The pinhole camera has been getting a lot of new attention these days, especially from designers and artists who normally have nothing to do with building cameras professionally. The simplicity of the pinhole camera, I suppose, presents a challenging ‘blank canvas’ to those talented folks who enjoy making beautiful objects for the sheer joy of it. No lens, no meter, no anything, really, except a tiny hole and a piece of film – yet capable, in the right hands, of making photographs as compelling as any other camera can.
The Holgas are intriguing, the Lomos are zany and fun, but Sim’s cameras are something else entirely. Works of art one could carry in a jacket pocket. Very industrial. Very cool.
CR
