Seven hour Pinhole Exposure/Tomales, California

Fine Art PrintsBio

On the trip to the Lost Coast last August I made some exposures with my 4 x 5 pinhole camera on color negative film.  I started the exposure as soon as it was mostly dark and ended it (except for a few late wakeups) as the sun rose, about seven hours.  Because I had to leave the camera out all night, mostly unattended, choosing spots was difficult.  The best of the batch is one from the deck of a hotel in downtown Tomales, a quiet little town.  I love the softness of the pinhole night image.  I love the softness of night photography in general, everything is muted and slow.  I am not interested in the  the hyper-realistic world, as seen in many apps and programs and a lot of work done at night now.  I am interested in capturing just what is out there before the camera and I relish the chance to take my time and set up the shot.  The fact that in one night,  I make one image only intrigues me.  In Seattle, in the city, it is difficult to leave a camera out all night unattended.  I am trying to let go of my fear of this and just do it.  This long exposure night work on film is for me a way to combine much of what I love about photography:  the unexpected, the use of film, pinhole photography, color, long exposures.

This image made in Tomales, is one of the seven photographs that are in the exhibition at the Bainbridge Island Art Museum, http://www.biartmuseum.org/exhibitions/twelve-years-in-the-woods-arts-studio-gallery  The show will be up until March 5th.  Two other images in the show were also made on the Lost Coast on film with the pinhole camera but the exposures were much shorter and made just as it was getting dark.  They all have the same thing in common:  a feeling that is dreamlike and unreal but very real at the same time.

 

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