A new book by Luther College professor Aaron Lurth asks readers to see film cameras as more than tools for taking pictures. In Small Luxuries: Film Cameras, Lurth explores how camera design, technology, politics and personal experience turned photographic devices into objects with cultural meaning.
The 128-page illustrated hardcover was published Aug. 4 through the Quarto Group. According to the supplied report, it is available through the Luther Book Shop in Decorah and online. Decorah Today published its report Aug. 23, 2026, and updated it Aug. 24.
A cultural history rather than a buying guide
Lurth is a visual communication professor and director of Luther’s visual communication program. He wrote the book for people interested in photography, graphic design and cultural history, rather than readers looking for equipment recommendations or detailed product specifications.
The book examines links among camera design, American culture, technological development and major events around the world. It discusses major manufacturers, notable models and influential figures while asking why certain cameras became important and how companies developed their products.
Its coffee-table-style presentation combines photographs, illustrations, vintage advertisements, newspaper clippings and other visual materials. Lurth sourced and photographed about one-third of the images himself. The cameras used in that work included models he owns or was able to access, including a 1909 Kodak No. 3A Folding Brownie, described in the report as one of the oldest cameras featured.
The Leica story at the center
One of the book’s central stories follows Leica, the German camera company, during the rise of Nazi Germany.
During the 1930s, Leica owner Ernst Leitz II helped approximately 300 Jewish people escape Nazi Germany, according to the report. He assigned 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 how camera history also involves political events and the experiences of people affected by them—not only innovation, manufacturing and industrial design.
Lurth’s background in visual storytelling
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 applies that visual storytelling background to the cameras, companies and people that helped shape how the world records and understands images.