A new book by Luther College professor Aaron Lurth is giving Decorah readers a way to view film cameras as cultural artifacts—not simply mechanical tools. Small Luxuries: Film Cameras, a 128-page illustrated hardcover, explores the relationship between camera design, technological change, American culture and major events around the world.
Lurth, a visual communication professor and director of Luther’s visual communication program, published the book Aug. 4 through the Quarto Group. Residents can buy it through the Luther Book Shop or online, according to Luther College News. Decorah Today reported on the book Aug. 23, 2026, and updated the report later that evening.
A visual history, not a shopping guide
Although the book explains basic camera mechanics, its purpose is not to recommend equipment or provide detailed specifications. Instead, Lurth looks at major manufacturers, notable models and influential people to show how photographic products gained cultural importance.
The coffee-table-style book combines photographs, illustrations, vintage advertisements, newspaper clippings and other visual materials. Approximately one-third of the images were sourced and photographed by Lurth using cameras he owns or was able to access.
One of the oldest cameras he photographed was a 1909 Kodak No. 3A Folding Brownie. That combination of historical research and firsthand photography gives readers interested in photography, graphic design and cultural history a closer look at how camera companies evolved and why certain models mattered.
Camera history connected to political events
A central story in Small Luxuries concerns Leica, the German camera company. During the 1930s, Leica owner Ernst Leitz II helped approximately 300 Jewish people escape Nazi Germany by assigning them to offices in France, Great Britain, Hong Kong and the United States under the appearance of Leica employment.
The effort later became known as the Leica Freedom Train. Lurth uses the episode to show that the history of cameras includes political events and the experiences of people affected by them, alongside innovation, industrial design and manufacturing.
Lurth’s visual storytelling background
Lurth earned a bachelor’s degree in art from Luther College in 2008 and a Master of Fine Arts degree in photography and graphic design from the University of Iowa in 2012. He later returned to Luther as a professor of art and visual communication.
His photography has appeared in projects connected with National Geographic, ABC, NBC, MTV.com, Time, the Des Moines Register, General Electric, CNET.com, the Red Cross and The Iowa Review. His films have screened at more than 100 festivals worldwide and received several awards, including the Iowa Motion Picture Association’s Best Documentary film.
In 2022, two of Lurth’s photographs entered the permanent collection of the Figge Art Museum in Davenport. With Small Luxuries: Film Cameras, the Luther professor extends that visual storytelling work into a history of the cameras, companies and people that influenced how the world records and understands images.