This Book is a Camera: A Pop-up Book Camera

Author: Kelli Anderson
Format: Hardcover | 2 pages
Dimensions: 17.81 x 2.31 x 22.91 cm
Publication date: 30 June 2026

An inventive activity book that doubles as a working 4x5" analog camera, complete with step-by-step instructions, photo paper, and a companion light meter app.

Created by artist and designer Kelli Anderson, This Book Is a Camera is a pop-up book that transforms into a fully working pinhole camera. It offers an entertaining, hands-on way to explore the basic science of light while taking your own photographs. The book briefly explains, and shows in action, how something as simple as folded paper can harness the natural behavior of light to create an image. You can easily convert a bathroom or closet into a darkroom and develop your photos with everyday household items (baking soda, instant coffee, and water). The results bathe your modern life in the warm, vintage glow of 1840s photography. Inside you'll find: a sheet of paper that folds into a working 4x5" camera, a lightproof bag, five sheets of photo paper to use as "film," developing instructions (using household ingredients or photo chemicals), a companion light meter app for iPhone and Android (any light meter will work if set to ISO 10 and f/228), and a rewarding demonstration of how design connects with science and structure with function. First released by MoMA in 2015, this creative bestselling activity book is now back in print.

Kelli Anderson is a graphic designer, paper engineer, teacher, and writer who uses clever design to reveal the surprising capabilities of ordinary objects. Her other books include Alphabet in Motion (Katherine Small Gallery, 2025) and This Book Is a Planetarium (Chronicle, 2017), which contains working paper devices, including a planetarium, and has sold over 100,000 copies.