The World's Largest Photograph was a success! On Wednesday, July 12th, the Legacy Project group unveiled their stunning, 107 ½ x 31 ½ foot image to the public.

The project participants worked tirelessly for months to convert an airplane hangar at the former Orange County Marine Corps El Toro Air Station into the world's largest pinhole camera. After extensive calculations and careful testing, they coated a 32 x 109 ft. piece of canvas with 20 gallons of Rockland Liquid Light, hung it, and prepared to make the exposure. The Liquid Light was donated by Freestyle Photo Supplies.

The image was made on Saturday, July 8th, 2006, using a 6mm pinhole and an unexpectedly-short exposure time of just 35 minutes. Initial estimates had suggested that the exposure might take days. After the canvas was exposed, the photographers and dozens of volunteers moved the canvas to a specially-made tray, where they quickly sprayed it down with an even coating of developer. Working by safelight, they waited anxiously for the image to appear.

"That was the magic: seeing this image come to life in the tray," photographer Jacques Garnier told the Orange County Register. "That made all the work worthwhile."

The resulting black and white negative image shows the former control tower, the runways, and the coastal hills. Aptly titled The Great Picture, this project will almost certainly result in TWO new Guinness Book of World Records categories: world's largest pinhole camera, and world's largest single photographic image. The Guinness Book will confirm the records sometime this fall.

The group is working with the Getty Museum to find the best way to preserve the print under archival conditions. There have been several inquiries from museums interested in displaying the print, but so far no agreements have been finalized. For the time being, the print will be rolled up and stored in a temperature-and-humidity-controlled environment.

The six photographers involved with the project, Jerry Burchfield, Mark Chamberlain, Jacques Garnier, Robert Johnson, Douglas McCulloh, and Clayton Spada, are all members of The Legacy Project, which has been intensively documenting the transformation of MCAS El Toro into the Orange County Great Park and Heritage Fields since 2002.

The project was sponsored by the generous donations of Freestyle Photographic Supplies, Photomation, Ganhal Lumber, the Orange County Great Park Corporation, and Lennar.