A world renowned photographer has spent over ten years building a 35-foot long camera by hand.

Dennis Manarchy has constructed the first-of-its-kind camera to travel around America and photograph the faces and history of vanishing U.S. cultures in their natural environments.

The 'Eye of America' is 12 feet tall, 35 feet long and eight feet wide; resulting in negatives that measure six feet tall and capture incredible visual detail.

Mr Manarchy said: 'The huge negatives allow for 24 feet tall prints with such pristine detail that you can see the fleck of an iris, a single eyelash on a child's face or the individual pores on our skin.'

The camera is currently in the prototype stage but upon completion Manarchy will undertake his upcoming 'Vanishing Cultures - An American Portrait' project.

He will haul the camera over 200,000 miles across 50 states with the view of creating a collection of photographs and stories that will celebrate and pay tribute to the history of American cultures that have shaped the nation.

Mr Manarchy plans to shoot photos of Eskimos, Native Americans, cowboys, Appalachians, Cajuns, recipients of World War II medals of honour and many more.

The final version of the camera will be built to look like a traditional folding bellows camera.

Mr Manarchy's prototype was recently proven to be a success when he photographed 91-year-old Virgil Poole Jr - one of the first Tuskegee Airmen also known as the Red-Tails.

Mr Manarchy and his team spent two-days preparing the camera with two people operating inside the camera using night vision goggles to hang the film.Mr Manarchy worked on the outside with the subject refining the focus and toning the lighting.

He said: 'Over my 30-year career I have been obsessed with creating the "perfect" photograph and I'm more critical of my own work than anybody else.

'After the trip I will be displaying all of the 24 feet photographs in stadiums across America alongside the negatives and people's stories.'

The camera will also be exhibited in order for people to learn how cameras work first-hand. The back of the camera opens allowing people to walk through and is retrofitted with a large plasma screen so people around can view portrait sittings in progress.

Project Director Chad Tepley said: 'Seeing an image come to life after working on this project for so long and hearing people's amazing stories is really unique.

'We are getting lots of feedback from people around the world who want to be involved in the Vanishing Cultures project.

'The scale of this project will bring amazing stories of American cultures and groups to everyone's doorsteps.'