New camera created in Hawick enjoys a sensational launch this week

A new ‘made in Hawick’ reusable camera designed to capture the sun’s path was launched this week amid huge anticipation.

Five years ago photographic artist Sam Cornwell, a former art director at Kielder Observatory in Northumberland, launched the Solarcan camera.

It proved a huge success and 30,000 of the cameras have been manufactured and shipped across the globe.

The company has established itself as a world leader in solargraphy – the art of long exposure photography to capture images of the sun moving across the sky.

Now father-of-two Sam, 41, has launched an exciting new product – the Solarcan Puck, a sleek camera designed to capture limitless images.

Yesterday, Tuesday, April 19, funding for the product was launched on Kickstarter, the online Crowdfunding platform.

And within just four fours the minimum target amount of £5,000 had already been reached, a response that Sam described as “mind-blowing”.

Today the fundraising figure had soared to over £8,000 and the Kickstarter page – kickstarter.com/projects/samcornwell/the-solarcan-puck – will remain open for another 32 days.

Sam, who employs two full-time and several part-time staff at a workshop in Hawick’s Baker Street, can’t wait to get the innovative new camera into production.

He said:  “The original Solarcan has been used as a teaching tool in schools and has helped open up the world of photography, astronomy, physics and art to many different people and it is still doing very well today.

“Last year we decided to create a brand new product called the Solarcan Puck, which is a massive diversion, it’s a huge change.

“It’s called Puck because it looks like a hockey puck and it’s a very different camera, although it does the same thing in capturing the path of the sun over the days, weeks, month or years.

“Solarcan has performed so well and has resonated with so many people. Now it’s time to produce a more dedicated camera, the sort of thing that can be re-used many times and can shoot over a single day, instead of several months. We think it is just better all round. It’s so much more fun that the original Solarcan. It’s quicker, it’s more convenient.

“My expectation is that the Puck will take over and become the most popular product.”