Noah Day captures student life with homemade camera
By Christopher Pimentel, March 10, 2026
Noah Day was sitting in his freshman dorm at Cal Poly Pomona, brainstorming what DIY project he should spend the weekend working on when he remembered his trip to Santa Monica. During that trip, he bought a sun printing kit made for kids but decided to utilize it for a 19th century photography style instead.
Day didn’t just buy the camera straight up, though. He instead decided to build his own made from leftover scraps of cardboard he had lying around. Day was inspired by the cyanotype and the first ever photo ever taken and thought to himself, “You know what, I can make something like this work.”
Day, an electromechanical systems engineering technology student, spent the latter half of his first year building a camera obscura entirely out of cardboard, hot glue and a singular magnifying glass. This project is now his weekend pastime where he takes photos of campus and uploads them to the school’s Reddit.
However, this project was not as simple as getting the materials. Since this camera doesn’t rely on film and instead uses cyanotype paper and sunlight to project the image, it took a week just to brainstorm how it would work, according to Day.
“I was kind of puzzled at first because I have never seen anyone make their own camera before, even though it seems somewhat simple,” said Punarvasu Sangam, a mechanical engineering student. “I think it is impressive because it’s sort of an unconventional project and the results are really neat. It looks like a filter, but it’s actually the raw image.”
Though there were struggles in the brainstorming process, Day mentioned it only took him a couple of hours to complete, highlighting how simple the build process really was.
Day’s creation is a camera obscura, which is a camera that uses the reflection of UV rays from objects to create a blue inverted color of the original subject. For the photo to be successful, there needs to be clear skies and high amounts of UV in the area, he said.
Day mentioned out of all the photos he has taken, only half have been successful and turned out the way that he likes. The number of times he failed didn’t discourage him, he said. Instead, it inspired him to keep going to make this project work.
“It is kind of just nice to bathe in the environment,” Day said. “I get a little bit more of a connection with the campus. It is relaxing and just fun overall.”
The CPP campus has become Day’s personal canvas. It not only provides convenience and functionality for the camera but also the personal connection. Taking these photos at school, he said, doesn’t just feel like a place where he must spend four years just to get a title and a fancy piece of paper. Day wants to feel connected with the campus and one with the nature around him, and his newfound camera lets him.
The vibe and scenery on campus are not the only thing Day has a connection with when taking photos. He feels connected with his dad every time he takes a photo because everything he knows about photography came from him. His dad was the one who gave him his first camera, which was his iPhone when he was 9 years old. From that moment on, he has been in love with photography.
Devyn Fidel, a manufacturing engineer student, described the way Day’s photo gave the campus an interesting look he has never seen before.
The camera takes multiple hours for the film to fully expose and capture the image. Day mentioned he doesn’t care about how long the photos take though because of the experience he gets, and the overall vibe of capturing the moment is what he loves.
Day shares his photos and his journey of creating the camera on CPP’s Sub Reddit, not only to show off his work but to inspire others and encourage the idea they can make something completely out of their own ballpark too if they try.
“Criticize me and I will gladly take the constructive criticism,” Day said. “But, you should never have to be afraid of somebody saying, ‘Oh, you are bad’ or ‘Oh, you suck,’ because everybody starts from somewhere.”
Day mentioned multiple people have been super supportive of his work, and some have even asked for steps on how to start a project like this. After hearing that, Day said he felt proud he was able to inspire people he didn’t even know to do something they knew nothing about, because that is exactly where he started: just a student looking for something to do on the weekend.
