The world record photograph - 32 feet by 111 feet - in place in the closed F-18 jet hanger used as a camera to make the image.
The entirety of Building #115 (F-18 hanger) at the abandoned El Toto Marine Corps Air Station in Southern California was transformed into a massive camera.
Twenty people test-raised the unsensitized photograph's canvas base into place inside the camera: total weight: 1,200 pounds.
The first row of 8 good test strips hung on the canvas surface from the precarious top of an 14-foot ladder.
Because nothing of this scale had ever been attempted, huge test strips became the only way to determine exposure.
After extensive calculations, conjecture, and testing, a camera obscura aperture of 6mm was selected, milled from an extremely thin titanium sheet.
For a time, the building was a tremendous light sculpture. After twenty minutes of becoming adjusted to the extremely low light, the image glowed luminously on the huge suspended fabric.
Ninety volunteers helped develop the great photo, using eleven high volume pumps and 55 gallon drums of chemistry. Developing the photograph used 600 gallons of developer and 1,200 gallons of fixer.
Two fire hoses were used to wash the Great Picture on the evening of development. Temperatures exceeded 100 degrees and the fumes from the chemistry were at times overwhelming.
A celebratory note is penned in the sign-in book, posted for months at the F-18 hanger entrance.
Admiring the Great Picture in the F-18 hanger with a strong beam of natural light framing the viewers.
After development and drying, the Great Picture is rolled for transportation and storage onto a custom-made archival spindle.
A remarkable object - the hand-applied emulsion and camera obscure approach reach back to the beginnings of photography, marking a complete circle as film-based images are replaced by pixels.
Six photographers master-minded this huge art undertaking. From left to right in this 20 minute exposure; Mark Chamberlain, Rob Johnson, Jacques Garnier, Clayton Spada, Jerry Burchfield and Douglas Mc
High above the F-18 hanger used to make the Great Picture with a portion of the El Toro Marine base in the background.
The Great Picture exhibited for the first time. There are only about 20 sites in the world large enough to display the Great Picture completely unrolled.
The Great Picture exhibited at the Art Center College of Design in 2007.
The Great Picture exhibited at the Art Center College of Design in 2007.
The Great Picture on view at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, China 2011
De-installing the Great Picture at the Chinese Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, China in 2011.
The Great Picture uniquely displayed at the University of California Sweeney Art Gallery in 2011.
Up close and personal, viewers experience the Great Picture at the Contemporary Arts Center in New Orleans in 2013.
The Great Picture on view at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum 2014. (Udvar-Hazy Center)
The Great Picture on view at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum 2014. (Udvar-Hazy Center)
Partner's-in-crime: l to r - Mark Chamberlain, Rob Johnson, Jerry Burchfield, Jacques Garnier, Douglas McCulloh, Clayton Spada.
