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Chamberlain began to explore photography in the late 1960s, but it wasn’t until 1977 when fellow American sculptor Larry Bell gifted him a Widelux camera, that Chamberlain hit upon a device that would offer the cinematic properties of film with the portability of a camera. His approach to photography and subsequent inks on canvas mirrored themes present in his sculptures, hinging on compression and expansion. Chamberlain viewed the camera as a catalyst for self portraiture, an extension of him or his body, often holding the camera at arm’s length and shooting blind to preserve intuition and spontaneity. The Widelux camera functioned with a pivoting rather than fixed aperture, allowing for panoramic captures. In combination, the resulting images are stretched and distorted; abstracted forms and streaks of light are a direct result of the artist’s hand, Chamberlain reshaping the world through his own experience.

Chamberlain’s photography mirrors themes present in his sculptures, hinging on compression and expansion. At once, both mediums offer a distinct expression of Chamberlain as an artist as well as a lens through which to read his entire body of work.