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U-2 spy plane lens used on homegrown camera, and other DIY monstrosities

DIY photography isn't a new school art, but one Chris McCaw has been credited with pushing the boundaries of it more so than just about anyone else in the business. This bloke is responsible for using bits and pieces of gear in order to concoct monstrous cameras that are then used to photograph long exposures of the sun, eventually leading to beautifully artistic shots known best as sunburns. During a recent interview with photo-eye, Chris detailed one of his latest inventions: a wheelchair camera that looks suspiciously like Mike Wazowski. The camera is so huge that it requires a jack just to raise and lower the lens (goodbye, lens shake!) and a handicap ramp is necessary to load and unload it from a van. The unit itself relies on a lens that was purportedly taken from a Lockheed U-2 spy plane, and if you're unfamiliar, that flavor of surveillance craft is largely credited with obliterating relations between America and the Soviet Union in 1960. Hit the links below for more -- it's definitely fascinating stuff.