m doesn’t like the word hack so let’s use the word “engineer” instead. either way, i solved a problem today with brilliant and cheap engineering. my co-worker notified me that our machine was ready to be photographed; that is, after i had arrived at work without white roll or a tripod. i told him i could probably figure out a solution and i did:

• white easel paper (with light adhesive—even better!) served as the backdrop. all i really need is a contrasty background so i can use photoshop to delete it
• an empty monitor box and another box for added height served as the supports for the paper
• the object’s original box served as a lazy susan so i could get photos of all sides (of this 30 lb object)
• lights at 6500K that we had in the office
• aeron chair coupled with an ikea tool set box and a piece of foam functioned as my tripod—complete with adjustable height and sloping seat to adjust camera angle. since the mesh chair seat was so bouncy, i increased the self-timer from 2 to 10 seconds to let the camera settle after pressing the shutter button. the foam helped absorb the motion as well, esp. with the 5″ exposures i was taking

and that is how you engineer your way to a successful solution. it’s even more brilliant than using a bench vise to open fresh, shelled walnuts (which was my y combinator answer for hacking engineering a system to my advantage).