The year was 1899. The Chicago & Alton Railway had just unveiled the Alton Limited, a spectacular six-car train equipped and decorated with the latest in passenger comfort. This flagship train quickly became the pride and glory of the company… but its introduction to the public needed to live up to the occasion. That set a new challenge: photographing the entire train in all its splendor. A year later, photographer George R. Lawrence, a true specialist in 'impossible' shots, suggested a solution: build the world's largest camera.
A Train That Deserved a Legendary Portrait
Placing a new train on the tracks in the early 20th century was no small matter. People saw trains as a revolutionary means of transport, capable of covering great distances in incredible time with comfort and relative safety. Everyone wanted to travel by train. It was a unique, romantic experience… even magical. And as expected, the great railroad titans of the era spared no expense when presenting their new formations. A good example of that exuberance was the Alton Limited. With a library, a Japanese-style tea room, a post office… the train was a mini city in motion, dedicated to the luxury and pleasure of its passengers. Now, anyone could create an artistic representation of the train, or photograph it from a specific angle, but the executives of the Chicago & Alton Railway wanted a photograph of the entire train. That's when George R. Lawrence steps in.
A Camera Like No Other
Stationed in Chicago, Lawrence was already known for his photographic experiments and his ability to make seemingly impossible shots. His first suggestion was to create a panoramic shot, capturing multiple images and then stitching them together. The company flatly rejected that possibility, because such a photo would not preserve “the veracity of perspective” and, moreover, the seams would be exposed. So Lawrence talked about his alternative: the best train on the continent could only be photographed by the largest camera in the world. The executives of Chicago & Alton Railway immediately accepted, and Lawrence designed a true cannon made of cherry wood, with a glass measuring 2.43 by 1.37 meters, and Carl Zeiss lenses, also the largest in the world.
In its full configuration, the camera weighed 635 kilograms, the bellows could fit six people, and it required fifteen operators to function properly. The big shot took place in Brighton Park, and its processing required almost 40 liters of chemicals. The result was extraordinary, to such an extent that Lawrence won the Grand Prize for Photographic Excellence at the Universal Exhibition in Paris in 1900, and both the photographer and the representatives of Chicago & Alton Railway were forced to provide guarantees and sworn statements that it was a single photo.
