Veteran photographer and commercial director Dennis Manarchy plans a sweeping multimedia series of super-large-format portraits. It will span all 50 states and lead to a traveling exhibition, massive book and documentary series.
For his historic “American Portrait Project,” Manarchy is building a 10-foot-tall camera that he operates from inside, with a 1500 mm lens from NASA that exposes a 50-inch negative.
“The camera is an event,” Manarchy says. “When you see it coming into a place, it’s a personification of the project.”
Manarchy plans to take the camera across the country in a transparent semi-trailer, documenting members of isolated communities including Appalachians, Cajuns, Inuit, Hopi and Navajo, eventually selecting two people from each state whose portraits would appear in the national exhibition.
