Dec 1, 2019 | Blog
I have been in Civita di Bagnoregio for the past month shooting pinhole photographs on a fellowship. Civita is a surreal, isolated hilltop town north of Rome and I fell in love with It. It survived largely due to the work of an architect, Astra Zarina and her husband Tony Costa Heywood, also an architect. Read this article to learn what Astra Zarina did with her fascinating life. (Astra Zarina). The Civita Institute, known also as NIAUSI, now manages the houses and awards fellowships to all types of people, among many other things. Their website, civitainstitute.org has so much information: you should go there and read about it.
So this is what I did.
I put 35 cameras from the Pinhole Project around the town when I first arrived. They were loaded with paper. Since these needed a good thirty days of exposure, I put them up right away. Not in the plan was how much rain there was, I mean a lot of rain and wind which soaked and moved the cameras: some so wet that I had to pour the water out when I retrieved them. The tape used to stick the cameras up did not work at all with the tuff, the rock of Civita. Instead I put the cameras on downspouts, railings, fences and trees. One went in a car. Some got taped to windows inside.
The response from the citizens of Civita was gracious and for that I am grateful. They seemed interested, respectful and kind. Not one of the cameras was taken down or messed with. Apparently there are no pinhole bandits about the area. I have retrieved the cameras I put up and am in Rome right now. The paper negatives have been removed from the cans and are in a light tight box waiting to be scanned; several cans have been given to interested people with which to make images to be retrieved later. I will scan my negatives as soon I as I get home! I also have 32 rolls of 120 C-41 (color negative) film from my Zero 2000. This film is waiting to be developed along with 30 sheets of 4 x 5 C-41 film shot in my Leonardo. All of that film, once it is developed can be scanned and shared. I have been researching developing my own color negatives but am a wee bit nervous to start with this batch. I have been told that it is easy and would certainly be less expensive. Please chime in if you have done this type of development before or want to help!
I also shot a lot of iphone photographs. I have always loved that camera. I will probably make a little book of these images. I have been publishing them on Instagram as a way to keep in touch with everyone and everything. It felt good to publish to Instagram which worked when nothing else did but What’s App. (What’s Up with that?) I will do a blog post of some that did not make it to instagram in the future. I just have to say: I hate the selfie stick and do not understand the need to photograph oneself in front of historical places or monuments or landscapes. I have never used the iphone in this manner. And I never will. Just saying.
I did not intend to but started also to work seriously at night with my DSLR. I brought it along as a kind of polaroid for the pinholes and was glad I did despite how heavy it was. The rain would stop and the town would glisten. Since the images are digital, I have been working on them and have posted some previously unfacebooked images here.
Patience. It will no doubt take me at least four or even six weeks or longer to get these pinhole photographs done. I do hope there is something valuable there that will intrigue me and you and enlighten us both. I learned some interesting concepts living in Civita: that I can eat well, make art and be happy that I actually forgot to lock the door at night. Photography at night is more physically demanding than the day but digital makes it seem easy. Digital gives us that shot of instant gratification. In the meantime, here are some night photographs as promised. Grazie a tutti cari lettori! Buona Sera!
Some Titles:
Moonrise in Civita
Night Delivery
The Arch Fantasma
Boar Hunting in the Moonlight
From the Street: A Home
Other Images are untitled so far.
Featured Image: Outside Alma’s: Toward the Ape
Nov 30, 2019 | Blog, Pinhole Wedding Photography
I shoot weddings with my pinhole camera. Recently I shot three wonderful weddings of people I know well. These are not typical wedding photographs. I generally shoot four images on 4 x 5 color negative film; the exposures vary with the available light but can be as long as 30 minutes. I do not use a flash. For most weddings I shoot the cocktail/greeting time before the wedding (or the party the night before), the ceremony itself, the celebration afterwards and then set a camera up during the meal. I feel the images turn out to be very personal. About a year or more ago, I shot John and Meghan’s wedding in Seattle. It was a very dark venue and a dark evening and I honestly thought none of the images would be okay. But they were and I was happy and so were Meghan and John. Last summer I shot a beautiful outdoor wedding for Autumn and Matt. They were married at Autumn’s parent’s home, and it was absolutely the most wonderful time: great people, great food and love everywhere.
Recently this past October I shot Isaac and Annie’s wedding in New York City. I have known Isaac his whole life and I was so happy that he and Annie got together. It was the first time I used my 120mm camera at a wedding and I knew it was right because the camera is so versatile. I could take more images and the exposures were shorter. Early in the morning we met in Brooklyn Heights and walked across the Brooklyn Bridge where we did a family photograph with the 4 x 5 pinhole camera. We continued to City Hall in Manhattan where the vows were made. After, we had a celebratory luncheon in NYC’s Chinatown; I recorded the luncheon on 120mm color negative film-about an hour and a half exposure. Annie wore a yellow dress; she was beautiful and the day flowed along. The party that night at a bar in Brooklyn was dark, very dark and very fun.
I have done several weddings now beginning with an old friend, Lucas, who married Angie in upstate NY several years ago. It was a great experience and I loved it so much more than I did taking “real” wedding photographs as I had done in the past. Not to say that real wedding photography is bad. It is just not me these days. I have two more weddings scheduled for this summer. It is great way to attend a wedding and be myself. I tell the bride and groom: if the images turn out, great, if not, I am sorry but I tried. But so far (fingers crossed), the images have all worked. Below are photographs from those three most recent weddings. If you know anyone who might be interested in this manner of wedding photography send them to me. I reserve the rights to the images but give the bride and groom fine art prints. I hope you feel the joy that I felt as I made these images. All people that I photograph with the pinhole understand that these will not be “normal” photographs. And most hire a “real” wedding photographer to grab the normal shots. And I am happy there is a real photographer present.
The featured image is from Isaac and Annies Wedding in NYC in October of 2019
Here is a blog post about Lucas and Angie’s wedding, my first pinhole wedding: www.janetneuhauser.com/in-honor-of-g-lucas-crane-on-his-wedding-day/
First wedding is Meghan and John’s over a year ago now. In Seattle.
The photographs below are from Autumn and Matt’s wedding last summer in the Pacific NW.
These photographs are from Isaac and Annie’s wedding in October in New York City.
Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed these photographs! Celebrate love! I am grateful to all the brides and grooms who are open to this manner of wedding photography.
Jan 5, 2019 | Portfolio
I have posted a lot of these images before but now I am hopeful that I can make them into a portfolio and put it up on this website. Here is a statement that I haveI wrote.
The images in this collection are made on color negative film, scanned and printed digitally onto cotton rag paper with archival inks. They were either made in a Zero 2000 medium format camera; or in a large format (4 x 5 inch) camera. Some were all-night long exposures, most were exposed for 30-45 minutes when light phenomena happens that can not be predicted. That passage of time is important in these images, for pinhole photography gathers light and records an extended moment differently than the camera with a lens. People become shadows, trees seem to replicate themselves, crashing waves flatten out. colors exaggerate while double exposures occur without intention. Movement is recorded while the time passes. I call this group of photographs Innards because the landscape is soft and the light is layered with what feels like memory. The images put me in touch with a side of myself I didn’t know existed. Over years of experimentation with the pinhole camera, I’ve come to this unconventional place, a mysterious landscape that glows and glistens from within–slightly ominous, endangered, beautiful, and sad. Imperfect and personal.
The preview image is a double exposure titled SomeWhere Near Yachats, Oregon Coast.
Many of these images are available in a self-published boxed book called Innards. Purchase of the book comes with your choice of a print in that is in the book. Published in an edition of 24, there are 10 still available,. Go to the shop on this website to preview the book.
Dec 13, 2018 | Blog
As director of the Pinhole Project, I am always looking for new ideas and new cameras with which to make pinhole images for both me and the participants. Recently, in the past year or so, I have been using two cameras for myself again and again: a three hole metal can that is a former Dewar’s Scotch container and a smaller squarish can that is a bit bigger than the Altoid tins but has only one hole. I have been working on two series of images with these cameras: the Getaways are images that I expose from a car or truck during a road trip. I have made several of these; and love the way they record the sun trails. The Home series which I have made with the three hole can, are images made within my studio and just outside of it, usually exposed for at least six weeks and they record in triplet a myriad of things both inside and outside the studio. I have also used a smaller tin and a round tin for these images. A friend gave me a Solarcan and I made one with that as well. Since pinhole photography has become something of an obsession with me, I generally have two or three cameras exposing at one time. When I tire of the look or run out of ideas I will try something different. In the meantime, I present some of the images to you, first the Getaways and then the Home series.
The Getaways: All were made from a moving vehicle with the pinhole camera attached either outside the car or on a window facing out. Exposures are usually about 2 weeks. The titles are as follows (top to bottom): To Doe Bay and Back, Oregon Road Trip, To Northern Idaho and Back, To the Grand Tetons and Back, Top of the World, The Sunny Arms from the Parking Lot, Near Seiku, The featured image was made on a road trip to Oregon with the camera on the front hood of the car facing b
Home Series with the 3 hole camera: First two are of the windows in my studio. The next two are from the front windows looking out. The blue image was made with a Solarcan pinhole camera exposed for three weeks. The next image is of the curtains and the window sill made with a regular one hole camera and the last image is with a round can inside the screen doors entering the studio.
There are many more. These are just the most recent. Thanks for looking and if you would like to be a part of the Pinhole Project, go to The Pinhole Project website and send me an email to join.
Dec 11, 2018 | Blog
As most of you know I was a high school photography teacher for 24 years. I loved the job, working everyday with young people who were intrigued by and creative with photography. Teaching them was fun. I have now retired from that job. I hate that word retired. It sounds as if I am off to bed to do nothing for the remainder of the days I have left. For me retirement is not about that. I developed a good work ethic over the years as a high school teacher which continues to pay off now: I get up and drink coffee with my work. I honestly do not know how I had time do the high school job. I spent at least 60 hours a week working including with the commute (which involved a 30 minute ferry ride). On top of that I tended to my studio and did what I could with my personal work. I had shows and grants and sold photographs but it was “on the side.” Now it is all about simply producing for the pure joy of it.
So what am I doing right now? The Pinhole Landscapes of course. The Innards Portfolio as I have come to call those images. I am also working on a cookbook of my Mother’s recipes, the DSLR images I randomly take, the Pinhole Project, and two personal pinhole projects called Getaways and Home (a future post is in the works) and I of course am updating my two websites and applying for grants. The Pinhole Landscapes involve a lot of post-processing: the negatives are very dusty and the color is off. Sometimes I reverse them horizontally. Sometimes I change things in photoshop: the aspect ratio, the background among other things. I want these images to knock me for a loop, just like the darkroom has in the past. I refuse to be judgmental about post-processing decisions.
I just spent 17 days in November in New York City photographing the archive of my dear deceased mentor from graduate school, Judy Seigel. Many things amaze me about her work. She produced a huge, incredible body of images from the about the time I met her (in the early 1980s) until about 2015. Her work ethic was so strong. She was not always easy to be around. She asked me hard questions and got impatient when I did not have an answer. Yet I learned so much from her and I have continued to learn from her looking at her images while I photographed them. She produced a strong and unappreciated, odd body of work. She had an unique vision. She was experimental and fearless. She thought a regular silver print without any “post factory manipulations” was boring. Her work inspires me to go into the darkroom with the Innards Portfolio. They are film negatives after all. I have an idea to transform these images and make them both about process and the image. I will let you know how that works. Meanwhile, the studio is glorious, depressing, exhilarating, Some days I do not go out: I mean I do not go outside at all. Forgive me if I have canceled a date with you. But now that I have the gift of time, I am using it.
In the past I eschewed the DSLR. But in fact I am shooting with it now and again, especially when I am on a road trip. Here are some photographs with the DSLR from my recent trip to the Grand Tetons. I did shoot a lot with the pinhole camera as well, and I took along a telephoto lens (a rarity for me) for the DSLR. I used it to make studies for the pinholes. Maybe you will see some sort of relationship between the two types of shooting. Maybe not Let me know. You can see two of the trip’s pinholes in the More Innards post. Another post on them later.
To the Grand Tetons and Back, 2018
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These images are but a few of the 500 or so that I made with the DSLR. It will take some time to sort them out. The images above have popped out as favorites. The featured image is from inside a cabin near Jackson Lake with the Grand Tetons in the background.
