Chicago photographer Dennis Manarchy focuses on big picture

September 18, 2013 (CHICAGO) (WLS) -- In a world of smaller and smaller digital cameras, Dennis Manarchy is thinking big. Really big. He uses a 35-foot long camera to shift the focus on those less photographed.

For the next six weeks, Manarchy's photo exhibit is on display at 2 North Riverside Plaza.

"This is the largest camera ever made, especially a portrait camera. And it is one wheels because we're going to travel 20,000 miles around the country to photograph America's most sensitive and vanishing cultures," Manarchy said.

Starting early next year, Manarchy will travel to the seldom visited corners of America to capture seldom seen faces. He will be looking for truth- not beauty. And people like the Tuskegee airmen will look into his lens.

"Because they're vanishing everywhere. Because it's the end of the film era. Because it's the two hundredth anniversary of the camera. Because I love these cultures and I don't think they should be forgotten," Manarchy said.

The camera's precision lens captures precision images on a 6-foot high negative. The detail is unreal.

"The best digital camera I know of has 60 mega pixels. This has the equivalent of ninety seven thousand mega pixels which is about ten thousand times greater than anything ever done," Manarchy said.

The free photo exhibit is called Butterflies and Buffalo: Tales of American Culture, http://butterfliesandbuffalo.com/. Manarchy hopes it will bring into focus now people who may be disappear in the not too distant future.

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