Near the turn of the 20th century, one photographer set out to take the world’s biggest photograph and for that he needed the world’s biggest camera. But there was a problem- it didn’t exist yet. The photograph was to be of the Alton Limited train, an exclusive service that ran between Chicago and St. The Alton Limited was commonly referred to as “the handsomest train in the world” . In order to accommodate this larger than life request a very sizable camera was in order. At the time camera technology meant that a large subject would require a large plate on which to develop the image or else be pieced together. Lawrence built a large enough camera for this purpose which weighed in at 1,400 pounds (with its plate holder loaded) and could accommodate a 8′ × 4.5′ plate, big enough to capture the Alton Limited in all its glory at last.
