These are amazing, proves some creativity still exists in the world.

They are beautiful and creep me out, which is a favorite combination.

I already NOTCOTed it this am and saw these.

Some nice stuff.

Interesting, but the HIV+ blood thing just seems gimmicky..

Heck, I'm not even sure that is really blood, because last time I checked that stuff like... clots?

I see things like this and feel guilty my hobbies are more videogame-centric.

I was suspect when I read the header that this was just some bullshit artist trying to get noticed by doing something "controversial". But, upon seeing the photos he at least puts some fine craftsmanship in the work and doesn't let his creations rest on his attention grabbing "artists" ideas.

Good think I clicked on the link and checked it out and didn't just rely on what someone else wrote to form my own opinion of the work.

How does one obtain HIV-positive blood, or a human skull, exactly? Do they carry these in the arts & crafts section of Wal-Mart now?

Vlad called, he wants his cameras back.

On a sidenote, I just showed these to my religious eighty three year old grandma, her response you ask? "This world is going straight to hell."

Just by looking at them, to me, they scream art for arts sake! kind of controversial. But the idea behind each camera is actually pretty cool. I wonder if the cameras have actually been used to take pictures?

@DocGratis: He probably added an anticoagulant.

I think these are very beautiful. It's sort of a mix of magic/superstition and science.

This artist is clearly mad, but mad in a good way. Nice stuff.

@DarkPlaces:

Human skulls are available fairly generally for sale as medical specimens. They aren't as easy to get as they were in the past, but it isn't too big a deal.

I don't know about the blood.
-Kle.

I have a human skull over my fireplace.
Nuff said.

Hello all, first time poster here -- love the blog.
The skull camera is beautiful, much nicer than the uninspired
Damien Hirst diamond-encrusted skull.
@DocGratis: as eris404 said the answer is heparin.

If I were that thirteen year old girl I'd be haunting the hell outta him messin' with my third eye.

I'm assuming that she did not have the third eye originally?

@Plague: yes, but is it the head of a little girl? Did you hack the head off a little girl and put it on your wall? if so.. I want your skull.

Cameras built by Vigo the Carpathian...
Seriously, I enjoy photography. I do darkroom work and I develop my own film. Pinhole cameras can produce very interesting effects... But these eerie-ass cameras are a bit much to add to the media. Other than a red filter, does how artistic the camera looks matter? Or, is the idea that a beautiful or haunting image can come from something that is symbolically horrific? I think this is best left to personal opinion. I'll stick with my pinhole cameras made from cookie tins...

That skull camera is cool as crap. Not the least bit offended by any of this. It's great art to me regardless of the metaphysical thought behind each piece ... or the creepiness of the ingredients - aye, that's part of the allure. But if it causes different opinions from "the world is going straight to hell" to it's all pretentious artsy bile ... well, how many times have we all been down that path? Art, like everything else, is relative.

@DocGratis:

I agree, gimicky and stupid. I deal with infected blood every night, and I don't get near it without proper protective gear. I know how to handle it safely, I'm confident in my abilities, but running around with something that's pumping biohazardous material (and just waiting to squirt out in to your orifices) is dumb. As for how he keeps it from clotting up, EDTA is a common anticoagulant. If you've ever donated blood, some of it was probably mixed with EDTA in one of the little tubes attached to the bag in order to keep it from clotting so that certain tests could be performed on it.

@DarkPlaces:
How do you get infected blood? Find somebody that has the disease and ask them to give you some. A good needle and some tubing is all it takes. As for the skull, you can buy them, legally even, in certain places.

Other than the first camera being potentially pretty dangerous, these are pretty cool.

@comp_wiz101: If I had a choice between two average cameras at the store, and all other things were equal, I would certainly choose the one that looked neater.

@ThatGuyOverThere: @Dominic_DeLarge: @eris404: Yeah yeah anti-coagulants, but eventually the cells and platelets breakdown and sludge occurs ....

This isn't a blood bank where the cells are kept cold, they are just in the room temp tubing...

My point is really that he either has a bunch of chemicals in there or he has some serum like fluid, but neither is really "HIV infected blood"...

I can't say if it is infectious or not, but the whole effect strikes me as stupid and gimmicky... Actually borderline tasteless too... (the one on his website with a partial infant heart "for taking pictures of women who are 8 months+ pregant" equally gimmicky/ borderline tasteless...)

i dig the occasional creepy, but i'm not pickin' up what he's layin' down. does he have a separate camera for every kind of subject he wants to take, or just the 'controversial' ones? what if he wants to photograph flowers? or dogs? ...don't answer that.

It's a really cool idea when you think hard about it. Some people have different that they pay respects to the dead, lost, hurt, etc. This is just his unique way.

Hi I'm the guy that made the cameras. I just found this blog so I thought I'd say hi and answer some questions. First of all, this has been a rather interesting trip. I never planned on a art career. I've always made my own tools and the cameras were just some of the tools I created for myself. Even the Mills and Lathes I make the cameras on, are quite modified and a little "different". Each camera was made for and from the subject it photographs and the subject is something I wanted to learn about. It's just a process that works for me.

It look like "Untouchable" or the HIV camera has been in the spot light in this blog, so here's some info on it.
The Untouchable or HIV Camera started with a conversation with one of my best friends about what his life has been like before and after being diagnosed HIV positive. In our conversations it was clear I couldn't see the world the way he does. The way people see him. The stigma of HIV. And what daily life is like living with an unseen villain that is always battling inside.
The camera has three clear cylinders that the HIV+ blood circulates through with the help of a pump I made from Rare Earth Magnets that slides on Titanium rails. The blood then flows between two sheets of Acrylic that are five thousands of a inch apart and mounted right in front of the pinhole. I tested with my own blood and a light meter and at five thousands of an inch thick, the blood (after mixing with the right combinations of Heparin as an anticoagulant and Sodium Chloride 9% to stabilize) has the same light restriction as a #25 red filter. After I got down the formula, an RN and mid wife that I work with in the heart series took my friends blood. (The photos on the web that are from the HIV camera are of my best friend and blood donor.) We did all the blood work in her lab. DocGratis is right. Most of the fluid in the camera is the Heparin and Sodium Chloride 9% . The rest is HIV+ blood that is mixed with a small amount of potassium cyanide to remove oxygen from the red blood cells. I then put the whole mixture into a nitrogen bubble bath for 24 hours and purged the cameras circulatory system with nitrogen to create an oxygen free environment. This has been the best way I have found so far to preserve the blood.
Every part of the camera I fabricated from solid blocks Aircraft grade aluminum, titanium and copper. The only parts I didn't make were the 10,000 psi military aircraft hydraulic lines and fittings in the front of the camera. Military grade titanium nuts, bolts and screws that hold every thing together. The camera has a total of 127 parts and is the most complex camera I have made, thus far.

The photo series the camera is designed for, is a study of people living with HIV and AIDS. All photographs are shot through and altered by HIV positive blood. So far Untouchable has photographed about 14 people in San Francisco. This year I'm hoping to take the camera to South Africa and Calcutta for a geographic comparison of people with the virus. A study of how location makes all the difference in your quality of life and survival when living with HIV and AIDS. Majority of the money from photo and camera sales is going to HIV meds in Africa and India.

Thanx for some of the nice comments. I don't know if anyone will read this because it's so long after the last post. But hey, ya never know...
-WMB-

@boyofblue: Hi maker of the camera. I'm the writer of this post, and I read this-thanks for the extra info! Really interesting.