Aug 7, 2014 | Blog
First let me say that there are no bad pinhole images. Of all the pinholes in the archive, there is not one single bad one. People fret about where to place the camera but ultimately it does not matter. Each image is a wild ride with light and shape and time. These exposures record long periods of time, the path of the sun, subtle comings and goings of the populace in the landscape and of course the light. The long simple slowness of the whole process records memory more than moment. Each are photographs filled with so many moment they become the antithesis the single decisive moment. And yet they remain simple little landscapes, lightly or brightly colored, aglow on a screen where they have landed after simple beginnings in an a simple metal tin. The miracle of pinhole photography!
As I look at the archive, I am struck by the the light again and again. In the past year, pinhole project photographers have experimented and become adept at using all types of cameras. They have built two hole and four hole cameras, round cameras, round panoramic cameras. Several people have done 10 plus images. I thank all you pinholists who come back again and again. I promise you we will have a way to search for your image in the archive soon. Given that, I ask you dear reader to go to the archive and let me know which ones are your favorites. I will do another blog later in the fall with viewers favorites if we get enough response. Enjoy these standouts below. Some are mistakes, all experiments, most at least three week exposures a few much longer.
Eric Riedel
Carina Laukatis. 4 hole camera
Ryan Cox 2 hole camera
Aerin Amore Looking Up
Amanda Siefert
Chase Lehotsky
Chiara Carcano. 2 hole camera.
Gregory Staley
Aug 24, 2013 | Blog
Yesterday was a wonderful day. I received my 4 x 5 color negatives from Citizens Photo in Portland (http://www.citizensphoto.com/), the only place in the Northwest that will develop this film. Thank you Citizen’s Photo, you did a great job. Two weeks ago, I drove up the Lost Coast of California with a friend also known as the Master of the Road Trip and here are the two images from our Punta Gorda adventure: one a image from my new fancy expensive DSLR (see blog post, Paradise is a Road Trip) and one from my 4 x 5 pinhole camera on color negative film. I have been anxiously awaiting the arrival of the negative film from the lab. I am happy to report that I love the pinhole image very much. The pinhole image holds onto the feeling surrounding the moment, not just the moment itself. Let me explain: up on that ridge on the Prosper Road, the wind was whipping from the west off the Pacific Ocean. It was the Golden Hour. We were dressed in sweatshirts and hats and long pants because there was a chill in the air. The light glowed and the ocean, far below, crashed and sang its own tune. It was a moment in which I felt totally alert and totally relaxed at that same time. It was all about the light and the wind and the sound of the waves hitting the beach. How do light and moment translate feeling onto film? What does the print have to do with it? The print of the pinhole is soft and sweet and beautiful. I printed one only and it is so close to done. The DSLR print I keep trying to make it less perfect. I can’t seem to get it right. Why is that?
Prosper Road to Cape Mendocino, Digital Image from my DSLR camera, f16, 1/20 second, ISO 400
Prosper Road to Cape Mendocino, Pinhole Camera Exposure on 4 x 5 inch color negative film, two negatives scanned and stitched together in Photoshop. f256/120 seconds, ISO 400.
These images were exposed at almost exactly the same time. Go figure.
