Capturing a passion within an occupation

By Kathryn Walters, Staff Writer walters14@up.edu

When he was a junior in high school, senior Kevin Kadooka received his first camera and was instantly smitten with not only the artistic aspects of photography, but also the ins and outs of how a camera works.

"They're really articulate tools," he said. "As a mechanical engineering major, I just find that fascinating."

Kadooka has found a way to unite his two passions, engineering and photography, with Duo, a twin lens reflex camera he has built from old lenses and Polaroid backs that produces instant Polaroid or film photographs.

Polaroid cameras are a bit of a throwback to the past. They first came out in the 1960s, and were hugely popular because they delivered instant developed photos, unlike most cameras that needed to have film developed later.

What makes Duo different? First, its dual lenses - one for viewing and the other for taking pictures. Second, it is sold as a kit for the buyer to build themselves.

"The kits are fairly easy," Kadooka said. "You don't need power tools. You need glue and a lot of patience."

For Kadooka, the path to bring Duo from the drawing board to reality has been a process since last July.

"Engineering has taught me that you take the time to build something, multiply it by two and then multiply it by two again," he said. "It always takes longer than you think."

Getting a finance kick

Kadooka put his camera on Kickstarter, an online funding platform for creative projects, where the creator of a project can post his or her work for anyone to see, and people who like the product can choose to financially support the project in the form of a pledge.

Product creators post a goal for how much money they want to raise and a deadline for the project. If the project's financial goal is reached by the deadline, backers get charged for their pledge and the creator receives money to make and distribute the product to his or her backers.

Depending on how much money a backer chooses to pledge, they receive a "reward" for their contribution. On Kadooka's Kickstarter page, depending on how much money a backer chooses to pledge, he or she can receive a reward ranging from an instant print taken by the Duo, to a Duo kit and even up to a ready-to-use Duo camera.

Kadooka's original goal to raise $10,000 by Feb. 20 was exceeded in the first five days he posted Duo online. Currently, he has raised over $16,000.

"If I had known it would be so fast, I would not have set the selling time so long," he said.

Local connection

One of Kadooka's backers works right here at UP. John Carleton, a Banner analyst, saw Duo online through a tweet and decided to sponsor the project. However, he didn't see Duo in action until he was taking photos around campus himself, and saw Kadooka with his camera.

"I got to play with the camera and it was a lot of fun," Carleton said. "It was much lighter than I expected, which is nice because I carry cameras around a lot and it's not always too convenient."

Kadooka said he chose to use Polaroid parts in Duo because of a Polaroid's unique style in photography.

"Polaroids just have this cool factor," he said. "They just have a retro feel to it. It's kind of a dying art, because no one really does that anymore."

Carleton appreciates Duo's distinctive style and innovative nature.

"Being able to use peel-apart film in a highly controllable camera is something I've wanted to do for a while," he said.

Although Duo has the potential to be a lucrative project for Kadooka, he wants to keep taking photos and building cameras for pleasure, not necessarily for business.

"I might keep making cameras in the future, but I wouldn't consider it a business," he said. "It's more of a past-time. It's just one of those things that I prefer to keep 'fun.'"