A Luther College professor’s new book offers Decorah readers a different way to look at film cameras—less as equipment and more as objects connected to culture, history and the people who built the photography industry.
Aaron Lurth, a visual communication professor and director of Luther’s visual communication program, published Small Luxuries: Film Cameras on Aug. 4 through the Quarto Group, according to Luther College News. The 128-page hardcover is available through the Luther Book Shop and online.
A visual history, not a technical manual
The book is designed for a broad audience. It explains basic camera mechanics, but its focus extends beyond specifications and equipment guides. Lurth traces the development of film-camera technology through major manufacturers, notable models and influential figures.
The coffee-table-style volume brings together photographs, illustrations, vintage advertisements, newspaper clippings and other visual materials. Lurth sourced and photographed about one-third of the images using cameras he owns or was able to access. Among the oldest cameras he photographed was a 1909 Kodak No. 3A Folding Brownie.
That approach allows Small Luxuries to examine more than the histories of individual brands. The book also considers the people and historical events tied to the camera industry, making it relevant to readers interested in photography, graphic design, cultural history and the stories behind familiar camera companies.
The Leica Freedom Train
One of the book’s central episodes involves Leica, the German camera company. During the 1930s, Leica owner Ernst Leitz II helped approximately 300 Jewish people leave Nazi Germany by assigning them to offices in France, Great Britain, Hong Kong and the United States under the appearance of Leica employment.
The rescue effort later became known as the Leica Freedom Train. Lurth uses the episode to demonstrate how camera-company history can intersect with world events and the lives of people affected by them—not only with technological innovation or industrial design.
Lurth’s Decorah and visual-storytelling connection
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 associated 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. His new book extends that visual work into a history of the cameras, companies and people that helped shape visual culture. Decorah residents can find Small Luxuries: Film Cameras through the Luther Book Shop or online.