Dive into Memphis magic with our 26th Annual Southern Music Issue!

From Al Green to Elvis, explore iconic photography and fresh takes on legends through stellar writing from Zandria Robinson, Robert Gordon & more.

Become A Member Shop Login

Actions of Light, Unseen

The handmade cameras used to produce "Lumen." All images © Lisa McCarty

Artist: Lisa McCarty 

Project: Lumen

Description: Lumen is an ongoing experiment to create and test handmade, large-format cameras as a means to discover actions of light that go unseen by both human eyes and commercially available cameras. Each camera is unique, yielding unpredictable and unrepeatable results. McCarty’s exposures range from several seconds to several hours, at different times of day, as she tests the conditions of light and time.

Kaleidoscope Picture (12:00 – 1:00 AM, February 11, 2013)

Bedroom Window (6:55 – 7:07 AM, January 1, 2013)

Lace (1:35 – 2:33 PM, September 22, 2012)

Flower Arrangement (11:45 – 11:58 AM, March 20, 2013)

View from Studio Window (10:47 – 10:48 AM, November 18, 2012)

View from Studio Window (9:08 – 9:09 AM, July 5, 2012)

Filaments (5:00 – 5:10 PM, August 6, 2013)

Preserved Butterflies (7:00 – 7:12 PM, February 2, 2013)

Lace (1:35 – 2:33 PM, September 23, 2012)

The Focal Encyclopedia (7:15 – 7:25 PM, August 19, 2012)

Kaleidoscope Picture (1:00 – 1:30 AM, October 22, 2012)





Lisa McCarty

Lisa McCarty is an imagemaker and curator based in Durham, North Carolina. Her photographs and moving images have been seen in more than sixty national and international exhibitions and screenings. McCarty received her MFA in Experimental and Documentary Arts from Duke University and is curator of the Archive of Documentary Arts at Duke’s Rubenstein Library. View more of her work on her website.