How I Stumbled Upon My Passion Project
First semester freshman year, I came to Michigan bright-eyed and eager to explore all that the university had to offer. After a spontaneous trip to a thrift store, I have begun the process of doing just that: learning about and making use of the plethora of resources available to us as students at UM.
One unremarkable weekend in the fall, some friends and I impulsively decided to go thrifting. I wasn’t in desperate need of new clothes and I have never been particularly skilled at upcycling, but I went along with them nonetheless because any escape from campus seemed like an adventure to me.
After a good half hour of following my friends around aimlessly at the thrift store, I began closely examining the miscellaneous objects strewn across the store. What immediately caught my eye was a small, old, boxy-looking camera packed safely in a leather case. I’m not sure what it was; maybe it just evoked some sense of nostalgia in me. Regardless, I was enthralled immediately and purchased the camera without a second thought.
Only when I arrived back at my dorm and explored its features did I realize that it was not immediately usable. I knew nothing about cameras, but I could see that there were components missing beyond the shell that I purchased. After falling down a Google rabbit hole, I discovered that what I had with me was a Kodak Instamatic 100, manufactured in the 1960s. Not only this, but the innards of the camera that were missing were none other than the film cartridge itself, the type of which is no longer produced. Film adapter products are sold on various websites, but all of them are relatively expensive for a college student who just wanted a fun pastime. What I found, however, is that the products sold are all 3D-printed. As someone who had never before seen a 3D printer in real life, the thought of making use of one seemed extremely appealing. So, in that moment, I resolved to make a project out of the old camera I had instinctively bought, and decided that I would learn both how to 3D print and how to use an actual camera.
It has been a mere few months since this decision, but already I’ve learned a lot, not just about how to go about completing my project but also about the facilities available to me. The world of 3D printing felt so daunting to me, but the clubs and faculty at UM have welcomed me wholeheartedly. Now, I’m a part of the 3D printing club, and I get to help build 3D printers! In the Fabrication Studio at the Dude, I’m exploring the different printers available to me and prototyping my film cartridge model. I’m learning how to use CAD software, too, and slowly I can see my camera coming together. Hoping to learn more about photography, I had reached out to the photography club and various faculty. Similarly to the 3D printing community, the world of photography at UM has since accepted me readily and taught me about what I need to make. I’m excited about the completion of this project, but now I’ve come to look forward to all of the people I’ll get to meet through it, and all of the spaces I’ll learn about and make use of.
Meera Kumar