August 2010 Feature

2010 color portrait of Cher MacNeill working in the field with her wooden Zero Image 6x12 pinhole camera

Cher MacNeill

Featured Pinhole
Photographer

Toronto, Canada

Artist Website
www.chermacneill.com

"As digital technology advances, our ability to readily produce and capture images increases. Pinhole photography contravenes this trend of speed and instant gratification and I find that very satisfying. The pinhole process is photography stripped down to the bare essentials. One needs to be methodical and considered in one’s approach. Intuition is given space to roam.

I worked close to twenty years in film editing and I’m always intrigued with the idea that making a pinhole image is akin to producing a movie onto a single frame of film. I like to describe it as a cinematic crunch: 24 seconds on a frame instead of 24 frames per second. The resulting image is a distillation of time whereby the essential elements of a scene are extracted… perhaps reminiscent of the process by which a fine whiskey or a well-nurtured wine is produced. And I can only say cheers to that.

Someone once suggested to me that a pinhole camera “aestheticizes” the image. This was presented as not a particularly positive trait. I guess I can’t really argue the point and whether it is a good or bad thing depends on the individual viewer and their general attitude towards the photographic medium. It has certainly provided me with plenty of food for thought…. Simply put, I enjoy the pinhole take on things."

CK → Fortunately there are still places in the world where you can be completely at peace with your surroundings. Places still wild and untamed by man and the modern world. Landscapes where time seems to tick just little slower than we’re use to. I can tell by looking through Cher’s photos that she too shares a love for nature and wide-open spaces that I do. And being that August is my birthday month and that I just travelled to remote locations on Vancouver Island Canada, it pleases me the next artist in this series is a Canadian photographer. Thanks Cher for sharing your vision here. -Chris

All Photos Copyright © 2010 Cher MacNeill and Reproduced by Permission

July 2010 Feature

2010 color portrait of Shikiko Endo

Shikiko Endo

Featured Pinhole
Photographer

Tokyo, Japan

Flickr photostream
shikihan

It was continuous that I had met the pinhole photograph of a coincidence. But the accumulation of the chance is necessity and understands it when I think some other time now when destined. It falls in love at the moment when I met you and seems to just continue unrequited love. I like to take the sky. I like sky that comes off in blue and blue. I like to take the float of the cloud. I like to take the cloud that drips heavily. I like to take sinking of the last day of a day. While quietly looking back on happenings of the day. I like taking solar light to run down shiningly. I like to take the river that flows in my town. I like to take the quiet sea and the troubled waters. I like to take the flower that shakes to the wind. I like to take scenery with the railway track. I like to take the scenery that flows in the car window. I want to continue taking the natural working and the working of the person developed around me with the pinhole photograph. The pinhole photograph. It doesn't only take the photograph. My mind is poured there while taking subject. If the voice of my mind can be felt from my pinhole photograph, I am glad.

CK → It’s a pleasure for me to bring talented artists like this to light. Shikiko truly is dedicated to practicing the art of pinhole photography. I enjoy how she takes the viewer’s mind and imagination on ride while she travels and uses her pinhole cameras. Her images give the viewer a chance to experience a moment in time viewed through the pinhole-eye of her camera. Thanks Shikiko and may your creative path lead to many more wonderful images. -Chris

Pinhole (lensless) photo amusment ride in motion by Shikiko Endo

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Pinhole (lensless) photo by Shikiko Endo

Pinhole (lensless) photo of yellow and orange poppies in a field by Shikiko Endo

Pinhole (lensless) photo by Shikiko Endo

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Pinhole (lensless) photo of the sun peering through the forest canopy creating flare by Shikiko Endo

Pinhole (lensless) photo by Shikiko Endo

Pinhole (lensless) photo by Shikiko Endo

Homemade pinhole camera made from Japanese tin

All Photos Copyright © 2010 Shikiko Endo and Reproduced by Permission

June 2010 Feature

Self-portrait photograph of Jaroslaw Klups with his homemade pinhole camera

Jaroslaw Klups

Featured Pinhole
Photographer

Poland, Europe
Artist website
http://www.klups.free.art.pl

"Selfforms" - description of the work

My way to express a creative influence of people and places as well as a variety of situations that I happen to find myself in is through photography. The aim is to ‘objectively’ comment on my ‘true self’ in reference to the surroundings. I hope to cross a thin border and get an insight into an emotional mirror of the others who not only influence but simultaneously create and destruct me.
I am trying to find a universal face, without the artificiality of posing in front of the camera. I installed a pinhole camera in front of my face so that I could prolong exposure up to a few hours. It was supposed to objectivize vision: ephemeral gestures and short-lived mimics invalidated each other leaving only hardly visible traces.
19th century physiognomists believed short-lived mimics reveal the truth about man. I am looking for it in endurance: exposing my own face I am busy with everyday activities – I talk to my friends, listen to music, work, eat, walk, sleep and so on.
The initial result is astonishing. The first photograph depicts a face not much different from the one seen in the mirror. I decide to continue, and, after development, my impression is that I know much less abut myself than I used to… The obtained images are full of mysterious traces of the outside world, suggesting passages of time and their uniqueness. My surroundings become a synonym of some remote period in my life, and the image obtained – its mask, a hybrid of various emotions and reactions to the world.

The confined expression of time flow revealed by the photographs embodies existence within some secret universe. With time objects change their meaning – they undergo unconscious verification, separating important from insignificant. Each white strip or smear in the image offers evidence of the past and develops a feeling of calm, slow rhythm of time in relation to which I remain – relatively – unchanged.

CK → When I first saw Jaro's Selforms pinholes, it made me think of what it might look like if you took a picture of yourself traveling through time. Yet another example of how pinhole photography is only limited by your imagination. It's also a pleasure to be able to showcase another talented pinhole photographer from Poland. Thanks Jaro for being part of the series. -Chris

Pinhole (lensless) photo by Jaroslaw Klups

Pinhole (lensless) photo by Jaroslaw Klups

Pinhole (lensless) photo by Jaroslaw Klups

Pinhole (lensless) photo by Jaroslaw Klups

Pinhole (lensless) photo by Jaroslaw Klups

Some of Jaro's other homemade pinhole cameras. I love the leather suitcase pinhole with the little boy examing it.

All Photos Copyright © 2010 Jaroslaw Klups and Reproduced by Permission

May 2010 Feature

Photo of Martha Casanave

Martha Casanave

Featured Pinhole
Photographer

California, USA

Artist website
www.marthacasanave.com

Martha Casanave’s Coastal Pinholes

My most recent pinhole project is “Explorations Along an Imaginary Coastline,” and lasted from 2000 to 2009. It was published in book form in 2006 (Hudson Hills Press). What inspired me to begin photographing at the shore, I do not know, as I have nearly always been an indoor photographer. I began visiting the coastline (Central California) on a regular basis, weighed down, like an inexperienced traveler, with too much baggage: camera, thermos of coffee, big bag of toys, shower curtain for sitting on wet sand, and more.

I put the 4 x 5 pinhole box directly on the sand or rocks, and stabilized it with sandbags. Even though the Leonardo camera has tripod sockets, I didn’t allow myself to use them. The directive to myself: I may place the camera anywhere a crab can go. The wide-angle, distorting view of most pinhole cameras is thus utilized best, from low angles. Also, working in this way takes me back to my childhood, when I played with toys, and lived closer to the ground and further from reality. The near infinite depth of field characteristic of pinhole cameras allows me to play with visual elements of near and far. The time dilations --long, long exposures-- allow water to become cloud, person to become ghost.

For me, photography is like magic. One of the reasons for my fascination with the 19th century is, in fact, the invention of photography. But the pinhole principle, the camera obscura, which far predates the ability to “fix” an image, is even more mysterious and magical. Its allure is its very simplicity: a box with a tiny hole creating an image– no lens, no viewfinder, no shutter. An optical phenomenon, unadorned by modern technology. Pinhole photographers don’t “shoot;” they don’t “capture” images. There is no snap, no click, no buzz. There is no viewfinder. We don’t need batteries. We uncover the pinhole and the film receives an image, one we can’t see, slowly and in silence.

As the coastal work progressed, I began to occasionally photograph in the distance a solitary, mysterious figure in 19th century attire: bowler hat, frock coat, cane or umbrella. I asked myself: Who is this person? Where did he come from? What/who did he leave behind? What’s he looking for? This person gave the work an ambiguous, narrative quality and thus made it more interesting for me.

After the book came out, the work took an interesting turn. The 19th C mysterious figure became fascinated with tidepools. Therefore I began making images partially underwater. This necessitated the design and construction of a special housing for the camera, including a way to stabilize it for the very long exposures (10–15 seconds). I wear chest-high waders, as I must sit directly in the tidepools. This work progressed very slowly, as now it was not only weather dependent (I needed clouds or fog) but tide-dependent (I needed an extra low tide), and, of course, 19th C man-dependent.

Examples from earlier pinhole projects —“Pinhole Narratives” and “Leningrad in Winter”— can be seen on my website www.marthacasanave.com.

CK → First of all I want to say it's a pleasure and honor to showcase Martha's work as part of this ongoing series. I have always felt that pinhole photography is an art form that doesn't belong to any specific time in history. The simplicity of the process reminds us that creating art doesn’t have to be complicated. By using equipment that doesn't require batteries and fancy electronics, this enables the artist to create art spontaneously. And since I've grown up most of my life near the sea, I have learned to appreciate and respect the ocean above and below the water. Thanks Martha for sharing your words and images in this feature. -Chris

Pinhole (lensless) photo by Martha Casanave

Pinhole (lensless) photo by Martha Casanave

Pinhole (lensless) photo by Martha Casanave

Pinhole (lensless) photo by Martha Casanave

Pinhole (lensless) photo by Martha Casanave

Pinhole (lensless) photo by Martha Casanave

Pinhole (lensless) photo by Martha Casanave

Pinhole (lensless) photo by Martha Casanave

Pinhole (lensless) photo by Martha Casanave

Pinhole (lensless) photo by Martha Casanave

Pinhole (lensless) photo by Martha Casanave

Pinhole (lensless) photo by Martha Casanave

Pinhole (lensless) photo by Martha Casanave

Photo of Martha Casanave loading her camera to create an underwater pinhole photo for this series.

TECHNICAL ADDENDUM FOR “EXPLORATIONS”

Camera: 4 x 5 box pinholes, both Leonardo and Santa Barbara Lensless Camera,
3 inch focal length and 1.5 inch focal length
Film: Tri-X
Exposure times: 10 – 15 seconds on a cloudy day
Developer: HC 100, Dilution B
Housing for underwater tidepool photography: A homemade contraption
Prints: 16 x 20 inch silver gelatin prints, toned in selenium and tea.

All Photos Copyright © 2010 Martha Casanave and Reproduced by Permission

April 2010 Feature

2010 color portrait of Edyta Wypierowska
photo by - Andrew Bogacz

Edyta Wypierowska

Featured Pinhole
Photographer

Poland

Artist website
wypierowska.com

Edyta Wypierowska was born in Poland. She studied photography at Multimedia Communication Faculty at Academy of Fine Art in Poznan, Poland and achieved MA degree in 2003. As an artist Edyta skillfully utilizes the pinhole camera's distortions of space and scale in the image. She builds a camera first and then, she constructs a still life. Final photographs exude a sense of adventure and mystery challenge the viewer's notions of reality.

Still Life I
“The fruits, photographs of which I have taken during a few minutes exposures, are in a strange stadium in-between of ripeness and rottenness. That state is ambiguous. During the exposure the fruits seemed to be ripe and juicy, however there is something on the photographs that foreshadows their near decay. It is not possible to opt for either of the features since each one of them has some traits of the other.
Using a pinhole camera in this case was intentional. Unpredictability of what may happen in a frame was essential. I did not want to have an absolute control. It was also important to me to have some inaccuracies in copying. I believe such on “inaccurate” seeing is closer to human way of perceiving the word since often we are unable to define and name everything precisely.”
The series includes 22 photographs were taken with the camera obscura.
Prints are silver gelatine contact prints, 8x8 inches.

Still Life II
”The pictures were taken with a pinhole camera. I have worked with daylight. For some of the motives I used a mirror to catch the sunlight and highlight certain elements of the composition.”

The negatives have 20x20 inches size and they are contact silver gelatine prints.

CK → It’s been a goal of mine for the past three years to produce monthly features on my website and blog on photographers from around the world that are doing new and innovative things with pinhole photography. A while back I came across this amazing Polish photographer that was doing some truly unique work. And since the world wide pinhole day is on April 25th this year, I wanted to have an artist I really liked. And since it’s springtime, I felt that Edyta’s pinhole fruit series seemed appropriate. So with the help of my pinhole photo buddy, Jesseca Ferguson and Edtya’s photographer friend Andrzej Bogacz, I was able to make this feature happen this month. I hope you find her work as inspirational as I do. Cheers -Chris

Fruit Still Life I - 2 - Black and white pinhole photograph

Fruit Still Life I - 4 - Black and white pinhole photograph

Fruit Still Life - I - 5 - Black and white pinhole photograph

Fruit Still Life I - 6 - Black and white pinhole photograph

Fruit Still Life I - 9 - Black and white pinhole photograph

Fruit Still Life I - 11 - Black and white pinhole photograph

Fruit Still Life I- 12 - Black and white pinhole photograph

Fruit Still Life 13 - Black and white pinhole photograph

Fruit Still Life 19 - Black and white pinhole photograph

Fruit Still Life 21 - Black and white pinhole photograph

Still Life II - 1 - Black and white pinhole photograph

Still Life II - 2 - Black and white pinhole photograph

Still Life II - 3 - Black and white pinhole photograph

Still Life II - 4 - Black and white pinhole photograph

Still Life II - 5 - Black and white pinhole photograph

Still Life II - 6 - Black and white pinhole photograph

Still Life II - 8 - Black and white pinhole photograph

Still Life II - 9 - Black and white pinhole photograph

Edyta Wypierowska's creative process photos

All Photos Copyright © 2010 Edyta Wypierowska's and Reproduced by Permission

March 2010 Feature

Self-portrait of Imre Bécsi

Homemade pinhole camera (No. 2)


Homemade pinhole camera (No. 3)


Homemade pinhole camera (No. 4)

Imre Bécsi

Featured Pinhole
Photographer

Hungary

Flickr Photostream

Some details from my pinhole life

If I only in a sentence summarize it, why make picture more than of 30 years, occurs to me then a famous sentence from Garry Winograd:
Because of that I make a photo,
let me ascertain that,
the some thing what kind will be on the ready photograph.”
And really of essence is in inside this sentence.
All other word and sentence just bad and unnecessary attempt.
What there is in the next sentences, nothing else, than a bad and unnecessary experiment.

I’m 45 years old.
Rather much this time it, that let me try to extract some kind of practical philosophy, to formulate for myself, from myself.
I did this so for a not long time:
"There have to be contrasts int he man’s life, that it is balanced.
And at what these contrasts play a more important role in his everyday life,
he is life will be in better horizontal the one at it.
And at what he has more dichotomies like this,he can make it more coloured at it”
One of my contrasts like this my hobby: the Pinhole photography.
His pair is my occupation, which one the full contrast of this.
I am a filmmaker, a director-cameraman.
I make advertisement short films, music videos and TV programs.
I shot 25 still pictures under one second and I using for this the most modern and most expensive film techniques.
I directing many men.
I working very increased one speed.
Why I selected for the Pinhole photograpy to this for contrast?
I was not searching, it found me.
Totally accidentally.
I was searching on the eBay when I noticed it a german produced pinhole camera.
That was beautiful.
I buy immediately, I knew nothing quasi yet then from this thing.
I shot only a roll of black and white film with him, but it was enough.
I fell in love with it very much.
Then already a year of his onto instant substances I make a photo with a Polaroid 600 SE medium format camera.
I pick up the shutter of pinhole camera and put to this camera.
So I prepared my first Polaroid pinhole picture.
Then a new world opened for me.

But something was missing yet.
A self-made pinhole camera.
I built it up until almost a year.
When I was ready and shot my first Polaroid picture… at this time the thing was totally ready, At this time I really became infected.
Alternates since then in me, what is the more important one for me:
to build a new camera, or I create to pictures with that cameras which already finished up
From five years has this things.
And from five of the years not day that, not deal with this thing.

Why?
Why pinhole photography?
"Because of the extreme optic angle.
Because of the long long exposures.
Because myself create the cameras from my own plans to all this, for one like that, that it is known what I want.
With them that pictures come into existence, of what I thought, there and then before the exposure. That world, what I see from among with a pinhole's photographer eye, reflect it was on ready pictures.
Ansel Adams said it:
"The photograph not chance the photograph is a concept.
It is needed for the good photograph, that the photographer foresee the picture. In the moment of the exposure, or before it there has to be in the photographer's brain.”
And this is also true onto the Pinhole photography.
I know, many people why love this device.
Because of what Susan Sontag summarized in one sentence:
"I think so, the rawer camera, that the knows less,
to a more interesting and more expressive result provides,
and allows to bigger space for to creative accidental.”
I am on that, Can I to do ignore this accidental and the contingency from my toolbar.

Why instant substance?
Exactly because of this.
That the planned sight and the ready picture - there and then - be to get beside each other promptly.That let it clear from into, that the idea and the creating method, how much did they get to close beside to each other? And if something is missing from a picture or arose I have a better idea or something simply did not get together so - there and than - let it be possible to make a new picture again quickly. Because from his own mistakes it learns the man. Mainly if they turn out quickly and immediately I can be corrected. Because the end product counts only, that single picture with which I am satisfied, that I want to bring to home.
How many spoiled pictures needs for this?
Totally irrelevant.
The photographic topic was then there,
the sight came into existence then of my head,
then the I invent to method for that what my creating way to the picture,
then the good picture has to be ready want there.

Why do I use filters?
Because I do not want to give back the reality on my pictures as it is there in front of me, than as to see it I would like.
I want not only to show my photographic topics, on an other manner to see.
And not only simply with that toolbar, that the technical peculiarity of the pinhole camera:
like the very wide optic angle
or the long minutes exposure.
But with the alteration of the colours and contrasts.

One of the greatest Hungarian poets, Attila József writes it:
"See, do not be watching only!”
My interpreting is it, that see other, see differently.

Susan Sontag writes it in her famous book:
"Becouse you can to see something beautiful in everything
However, the beauty is in nothing from the beginning.
Must be to find the beauty, through a some other kind of view.”

Is pinhole photography it my other kind of view to that,
I can and shall see something beautiful in everything.

CK → All artists look for inspiration which will hopefully motivate and inspire them to create art themselves. When I first saw some of Imre's photos, they gave me the feeling as if I was peering into a dream or some magical landscape in my imagination. A dream that I've either had in the past or possibly will have in the future. A romantic vision, if you will. I also was intrigued by his thoughts on making instant Polaroid pinholes photos and why he chooses that film for his favorite media. Thanks Imre sharing all this and I hope everyone enjoys the feature. -Chris

Title: Picnic

Title: What is needed for a real pinhole camera picture: wind, backlight, clouds and two tolerant characters

Title: Pink

Title: Kastély

Title: And the rain went away towards the other coast (original)

Title: My small daughter plays it, that fell asleep while I got ready for taking a photo

Title: Roman Catholic church of St Stephen the King (13th cent.)

Title: The last memory of the last year's summer

Title:Old Meeting Point

Title: The Road

Title: Protuberencia

Title: Dance With The Wind

Title: And the human humming top last ones span

All Photos Copyright © 2010 Imre Becsi and Reproduced by Permission

February 2010 Feature

Ralph Howell stands by his Carnival Wagon Camera Obscura fitted with a pinhole that projects 6 ft. x 8 ft. images inside of it.

Ralph Howell

Featured Pinhole
Photographer

Texas, United States

"I am passionate about constructing simple, low-tech, pinhole cameras as a way to see and understand what is hidden by the conventional representation of lens cameras. The pinhole camera is a playful and philosophical tool created and guided by intuition which allows extensive artistic freedom. This intuitive approach offers the opportunity for me to create intriguing and often whimsical images by allowing me to explore, experiment, and take artistic risks that would not be possible with a lens camera. I have designed and built over 100 different kinds of pinhole cameras from found and natural objects. Virtually anything can be turned into a pinhole camera: a coconut, a muffin pan, a cowboy boot, a fishing float, etc. If a chambered object can be light-proofed, it can be transformed into a pinhole camera. I’m excited by the fact that pinhole cameras don’t restrict my creativity with a light meter, a clicking shutter, or a viewfinder. In particular, the absence of a viewfinder turns the process of pre- visualizing a shot into a serendipitous process where I can “point and shoot “ from the hip. I enjoy improvising the content and composition of the photo and risking unexpected and playful outcomes.
Artist statement: I perceive the pinhole as a “seeing eye”, a single hole sieve that filters information. The human mind has the capacity to perceive and form perceptions into thought and image and to then reflect upon both itself and its products. This concept is the basis for the Mirror Reflection series: the pinhole camera’s “self-portrait” is an image of creator reflecting on its creation. I am also concerned with the pinhole camera-as-object, as a ‘ready-made’ – the pinhole camera being as important as the images it creates."

CK → All artists get inspiration from the world around them which helps them develop and expand their own creative path. A while back I remember stumbling across an image that caught my eye and inspired me. It was Ralph's potato as a pinhole camera photo. I remember thinking how outrageously brilliant and funny it was. And with a little further exploring, I found that wasn't the only ingenious pinhole camera he has made. So to be able to pass that inspiration forward in this month's feature, is a pleasure and an honor. Thanks Ralph and keep up the great work!

Title: Mirror Reflection: Butternut Squash as Pinhole Camera

Title: Mirror Reflection: Potato as Pinhole Camera

Title: Pineapple as Pinhole Camera

Title: Mirror Reflection: Plastic Buddha as Pinhole Camera

Title: Mirror Reflection: Fishing Float as Pinhole Camera

Title: Mirror Reflection: Gas Mask as Pinhole camera

Title: Mirror Reflection: Shoe as Pinhole Camera

Title: Muffet Baldwin Coffee, Pinhole Photograph

Title: "Eight O’Clock Coffee, Pinhole Photograph

Title: Extra Strong Segafredo Coffee, Pinhole Photograph

Title: Self Portrait #3, Cookie Tin Camera with 3 Pinholes

Title: "Pigfly”, Wall Nut Shell Pinhole Camera

Title: “Elvis Sightings”, Muffin Pan Camera with 12 Pinholes

All Photos Copyright © 2010 Ralph Howell and Reproduced by Permission

January 2010 Feature

Papercam pinhole self-portrait of
Thomas Hudson Reeve

Thomas Hudson Reeve

Featured Pinhole
Photographer

New York, United States
www.papercams.com

"The modern camera is a wonderful thing, but it’s nice to remember how simple the mechanism can be. You can strip away the technology until there is little left but the abstraction on which the machine is based. A simple manipulation of space, a few materials, and a couple of hand tools and the magic (or physics) of it is at your fingertips without sophisticated engineering.
To simplify these cameras as much as possible I made them out of the photo-paper itself. There is no film in the camera because the camera is the film. Like a salad bowl made of lettuce leaf, and consumed with the meal, the camera doesn’t exist after it’s utility is fulfilled. It is more of an arrangement than a thing.

There is no negative because the photo-paper employed creates a direct positive image (It uses a reversal process and is used to make prints from slides). Since it is color paper it is sensitive to the full spectrum of visible light, and there is no “safe” light recommended for darkroom work. In other words each paper box camera is cut, folded, and constructed in the dark and kept in a dark bag until its moment in the sun has come.

The pin-hole in the brass plate is all that is needed to project an image onto the inside surface of the box (more on that later), but light also seeps through the cracks and flaps of the box construction and soaks through the black tape that holds the whole thing together. The streaks and burns and flares that appear on the final image are the result of this ambient radiation and although it can be somewhat controlled it also depends largely on “random” factors.
Back in the dark the brass lens plate is folded back like a hatch-cover revealing the hole in the underlying box flap. A funnel is placed in the hole and the camera becomes more like a leaky juice carton as the chemicals are poured in and sloshed around for a couple of minutes each. Rigorous adherence to optimal chemistry technique is already out the window here, so I decided not to worry about it too much as long as the times and temperatures were in the ballpark.
Finally, with the whole box immersed in a deep pan of water, the black masking tape is peeled off and discarded, allowing the box to open flat and display it’s inner surface.

These are extremely wide-angle pictures. The angle of view seems to be about 170? as the image wraps around the inside of the box almost all the way back to the aperture. There is no “fish-eye” optical distortion as with a wide-angle lens because through a pinhole light travels in straight lines whereas a glass lens bends light as it gathers it. The distortion that is evident here is caused by the various planes of the box sides intersecting the sphere of light at different angles. This stretches sections of the field of view like a mercator map projection.

Objects seen in the box are closer than they appear and at the sides you are almost looking over your shoulder. Like a mirror, the scene is flipped left to right, which is why a familiar location may not look quite right."

CK → Imagine looking at a blank piece of paper and then minutes later that same piece of paper has been folded into a working pinhole camera. Tom Reeve has done just that. Tom folds photographic paper into small paper box pinhole cameras called “papercams”. Not only is the processing exciting, so are the images. And while working with Tom’s wife Kat to put this feature together, I learned that January is Tom’s birthday month… So Happy Birthday Tom and thank you for sharing your amazing papercam photos with us in this feature.

Title: Winter Garden
Color Papercam Pinhole Photo

Title: Tressel
Color Papercam Pinhole Photo

Title: Flat Iron
Color Papercam Pinhole Photo

Title: Manhole
Color Papercam Pinhole Photo

Title: Bronx Glade
Color Papercam Pinhole Photo

Title: Grants Tomb
Color Papercam Pinhole Photo

Title: WTC
Color Papercam Pinhole Photo

Title: River Side Park
Color Papercam Pinhole Photo

All Photos Copyright © 2010 Thomas Hudson Reeve and Reproduced by Permission

December 2009 Feature

Photos of Bethany de Forest setting up her shots before she makes her pinhole photos of her assemblages.

Bethany de Forest

Featured Pinhole
Photographer

Amsterdam, The Netherlands
www.pinhole.nl

"I like pinhole-photography most because it's such a simple technique that also allows lots of experimentation.
I first started using a pinhole camera as a necessity. I wanted to photograph a small glass structure, I had built, from a very low perspective and that way create the feeling it was a life-size building. Therefore my first camera was a matchbox. After this there was no stopping and for a while I turned lots of boxes and containers into camera's.
That's what's so fantastic about photography. You decide on size and appearance of the camera. As I use lots of mirrors in my diorama's. Because of this the camera often appears in the mirror and takes a part in the image. A conventional camera always looks like a camera. But a pinhole-camera can have many shapes. Another thing I like about pinhole is that you can decide on the angel of the picture. In my work I use a very wide angle and I love the light fall-out towards the edges. You sort of get sucked into the image. The endless depth of field is also one of the special features. This can create a total new perspective on things. The scale of objects is deformed which can give a very surreal effect. Also the way it captures the light and colors is often a surprise and an ode to coincidence.
And after 20 years of working with pinhole I'm still not bored with it and sometime still amazed the magic of it still works."

CK → I've been a fan of Bethany's pinhole photos for quite some time, so to have her photos featured on my site is exciting for me. Her pinhole photos of her assemblages are unlike anthing I've ever seen. I am amazed how she constructs miniature environments to look surreal and other worldly. I think she really takes advantage of the large depth of field and wide angle perspectives that pinhole photography can deliver. She creates photographs that many of us could only dream or imagine making. It is my pleasure and honor to finish the year 2009 with her words and photos in this feature. Thanks Bethany for sharing your art with us and keep up the great work in the future.

Title: Boktor
Pinhole Photo

Title: Caravan
Pinhole Photo

Title: Canyoncar
Pinhole Photo

Title: Klaprozen Mist
Pinhole Photo

Title: Koepelvlinders
Pinhole Photo

Title: Roze Sprink
Pinhole Photo

Title: Varentuin
Pinhole Photo

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Title: Vlinderkik
Pinhole Photo

Title: Frambozenveld
Pinhole Photo

Title: Eiffelsnelweg
Pinhole Photo

Title: Zwempaleis
Pinhole Photo

Title: Druppel
Pinhole Photo

Title: Pegels
Pinhole Photo

Title: Vlindertrek
Pinhole Photo

Title: Pepermieren
Pinhole Photo

Title: Speldveld
Pinhole Photo

All photos © 2009 Bethany de Forest and Reproduced by Permission

November 2009 Feature

Craig J. Barber

Featured Pinhole
Photographer

Woodstock, New York
www.craigbarber.com

"For over twenty years I have worked with various pinhole cameras and the surprises and mystery of the medium continues to excite me. The simplicity of a cardboard box with a small hole and its ability to re-imagine my world is why I continue to work with this device.

I simply enjoy the way pinhole “sees” the world, a vision that is slightly askew, a vision that parallels mine. And I enjoy the fact that everything is not in my control, that chance plays an enormous roll in what I do. As long as I’ve worked with the pinhole my images still have the ability to surprise and astound me.

The pace of working with a pinhole camera is also very appealing, it feels like Zen and the Art of Photography. I feel much more in tune with my subject for I am at any given location for a longer time that I would normally be working with a conventional camera just by the nature of my exposures which range from 40 seconds to and hour or more…it is a different relationship that I have with what’s in front of my lens.

Lastly, because my work tends to be about memory, this time span of exposures resonates as time passes in front on my lens."

CK → The following pinhole photographs are from Craig's new pinhole photo series called "Sites Unseen: Rural America". These are pictures of working farms, small towns, summer playgrounds, hunting camps and open spaces. Places that are now fatigued, abandoned, overgrown, some reclaimed, but most not. Craig has traveled the world to places like, Europe, Cuba, South East Asia and has many wonderful pinhole images to show for it on his website craigbarber.com. It is an honor and a pleasure to have him part of this series and to be able to bring a few of his words and images to you in this feature.

Title: Cold Spring Hotel
Pinhole Photo

Title: 3 Sawyers
Pinhole Photo

Title: Blue Birds
Pinhole Photo

Title: Andes Farm
Pinhole Photo

Title: Quiet Demise
Pinhole Photo

Title: Basketball
Pinhole Photo

Title: Pete's Pair
Pinhole Photo

Title: Fallen
Pinhole Photo

Title: Harvest
Pinhole Photo

Title: Groceries
Pinhole Photo

Title: Thanksgiving
Pinhole Photo

Title: Voices
Pinhole Photo

All photos © 2009 Craig J. Barber and Reproduced by Permission

October 2009 Feature

Portrait of Steve Gosling with his Zeroimage 2000 Deluxe
6x6 pinhole camera

Steve Gosling

Featured Pinhole
Photographer

Harrogate, North Yorkshire, UK
www.stevegoslingphotography.co.uk

To see more of Steve Gosling's pinhole images visit his galleries
Lensless Landscapes 1
Lensless Landscapes 2

Steve also has a book ('Lensless Landscapes') of his pinhole photographs available for sale
--- Check it out here ---

"Over the last few years my work with a pinhole camera has taken me on a multi faceted journey – a geographical one to various locations across the UK; a technical one to understand and utilise pinhole photography’s unique characteristics; and on a personal voyage of discovery in my development as a photographer. Like most long journeys it’s been an experience of learning & transition with a few surprises thrown in for good measure. And it’s a journey that continues.

Fairly early on in my metaphorical travels I discovered that lensless image making most effectively captures the ethereal aspects of the natural world that appeal to me. Perhaps this is because it records not a single moment in time but the passing of time (for my exposures are typically several seconds and sometimes many minutes). It therefore depicts events previously unseen – sequences of time that the human eye cannot witness. Seeing the processed negatives for the first time can be a revelation – an opportunity to view even a familiar location with new eyes.

The lengthy exposures and the absence of a viewfinder mean that the exact nature of the final image cannot be pre-visualised. It’s a complete contrast to the precise and predictable world of digital photography. And I love it!

Pinhole photography has also challenged my notion of what constitutes a worthwhile subject for my camera. It’s taught me to look at and find visual attraction in locations I would have previously ignored. The result is that I continue to see the world with a renewed vision and a refreshed creativity that has literally expanded my horizons as a photographer.

Most importantly my journey has confirmed to me that communicating mood & emotion are my prime motivators for making landscape photographs. I’ve never been overly concerned with technical perfection or producing an accurate pictorial record of a location. For me the heart of landscape photography is to capture and communicate what I’m feeling, as much (if not more) than what I see at the time of releasing the shutter. And my work with a pinhole camera has enabled me to achieve this goal more consistently than ever before.

But ultimately I hope my pinhole images will be judged not on how they were produced but on their visual merits and the extent to which they reveal my passions to those who view them."

CK → Even though I focus primarily on people in my photography, I still appreciate and enjoy beautiful landscape photos like the images created by Steve Gosling. His photos remind me of that peaceful stillness that I experience when I'm alone in nature. As I look at his images, I can imagine the sights and sounds in my mind; hearing the wind blowing through the trees and the surf flowing onto the beach. Even though I know the world is moving ahead at warp speed, Steve's photos remind me that there are places still left in the world where time moves ahead a little slower. It is in these kinds of photos where I can calm my mind and feel at peace with the world around me. Thanks Steve for sharing your words and images.

Title: Time & Motion
6x6 Zeroimage pinhole photo

Title: Into The Light
6x6 Zeroimage pinhole photo

Title: Elemental
6x6 Zeroimage pinhole photo

Title: Hard Rock
6x6 Zeroimage pinhole photo

Title: Elemental 2
6x6 Zeroimage pinhole photo

Title: Heavenly Light
6x6 Zeroimage pinhole photo

Title: Ebbing Tide
6x6 Zeroimage pinhole photo

Title: Two Seats
6x6 Zeroimage pinhole photo

Title: Tide & Time
6x6 Zeroimage pinhole photo

Title: Exit
6x6 Zeroimage pinhole photo

All photos copyright © 2009 Steve Gosling and Reproduced by Permission

September 2009 Feature

Self-portrait of John Fobes standing next to his wooden Eastman 5x7 viewcamera.

John A. Fobes

Featured Pinhole
Photographer

Pittsburgh, PA
John's Flickr Photostream

"After years of working in the medium of pinhole photography with various self-constructed cameras, the pinholes' serendipitous quality continues to fascinate me. Regardless of the control I've achieved through experience, I'm always excited with the range of suprises offered to me on the developed negative.

The images presented here are a self-portrait from the real world that are transformed into a fantasy world by way of the pinhole images' unique visual syntax. The ideas were conceived from dream fragments and constructed mentally before even touching a camera. Because there is no viewfinder. I am more conscious of the visual space and how the pinhole camera will render the scene. I choose and arrange visual elements to create mystery as well as to emphasize spatial relationships. And then I just work until that image is a print held in my hands. I'll enhance the final print with one of my home made toning formulas.

A pinhole camera is a magical Cracker Jack box waiting for the unknown suprise to be discovered. With pinhole photography there are always juxtapositions that cannot be anticipated and these wonderful suprises drive me to continue creating. The pinhole camera is the perfect tool for grasping the ethereal dream."

CK → I've always admired photographers who are able to create compelling images with pinhole cameras they made themselves. John Fobes is one of those photographers. I think you'll find that by viewing his pinhole photos, he knows how to see the magic of life through the pinhole of his camera. I also like how John has created his Pinhole Dream Series, where he has threaded many of the images together by being the reaccuring subject in his pinhole photos.

Title: Glasses By The Window
6x9 pinhole photo

Title: Pinhole Dream Series
6x9 pinhole photo

Title: Pittsburgh Pinhole Series
6x9 pinhole photo

Title: Pittsburgh Pinhole Series
6x9 pinhole photo

Title: Pinhole Dream Series
6x9 pinhole photo

Title: Pinhole Dream Series
6x9 pinhole photo

Title: Pinhole Dream Series
6x9 pinhole photo

Title: Pinhole Dream Series
6x9 pinhole photo

Title: Tempus Fugit
6x9 pinhole photo

Title: Pinhole Dream Series
6x9 pinhole photo

Title: Cat Walk
6x9 pinhole photo

Title: Pinhole Dream Series
6x9 pinhole photo

Title: Homage To Man Ray
6x9 pinhole photo

Title: Pinhole Dream Series
6x9 pinhole photo

All photos © 2009 John Fobes and Reproduced by Permission

August 2009 Feature

Pinhole self-portrait of Kerry Lu

Kerry Lu

Featured Pinhole
Photographer

Taipei, Taiwan

"Pinhole photography is all about patience, it forces me to slow down and think. I love to capture all the things around my life, it make me think about how and why I live. There's always accidents and you can not control everything. You have to follow the subtle change of light.

I'm fascinated by the vanishment and preservation of movement and stillness.

I love the way it extract the wide space, it makes me feel that I can really walk into and explore the unknown world.

It's amazing that such a simple mechanism could create so many unlimited possibilities.
I'm not good at expressing myself with words, but my pinhole photos speak for me."

CK → I first came across LU LU's photos on Flickr through a mutual photographer friend, Tookie and was really impressed how she created her pinhole photos. I liked how she transformed everyday objects and scenes into mysterious photo compositions. Her love for film and pinhole photography shows in her photos and it is a pleasure to be able to share them in this feature. Thanks Kerry!

Title: Horizon
6x6 pinhole photo of bicycle reflection and wood

Title: Frog Man
6x6 pinhole photo of my friend’s birthday party

Title: Outmoded Bathroom
6x6 pinhole photograph

Title: Plant Microcosm
6x6 pinhole photo of sapling and trees

Title: Who Eat Me?
6x6 pinhole photo of tea pot, snack and bamboo trees

Title: Tea Time
6x6 pinhole photo of tea cup and me

Title: Pen F
6x6 pinhole photo of you dream art with Pen F camera

Title: Kantoni
6x6 pinhole photograph

Pinhole photo // Created with homemade pinhole camera

Pinhole photo // Created with homemade pinhole camera

Title: The Perfect Lens Cap
6x6 pinhole photo Pen F lens cap

Title: Summer Beach
6x6 pinhole photo Kerry Lu and friends

Title: I Was Too Hungry To Wait
6x6 pinhole photograph

Title: Number 3
6x6 pinhole photo of the number 3 on a boat with an anchor

Title: Flower Bud In Glass Cup
6x6 abstract pinhole photograph

Title: Complex
6x6 pinhole photo of the roots of a tree

All photos © 2009 Kerry Lu and Reproduced by Permission

July 2009 Feature

Pinhole self-portrait of Massimo Stefanutti

Massimo Stefanutti

Featured Pinhole
Photographer

Massimo lives and works
in Venice, Italy

www.massimostefanutti.it

"E.M. Cioran and Thomas Beckett, in a conversation brought back from the first one in "Exercises of admiration" (Adelphi, 1988), are confronted on like translate, from the French to English, the title it of the teatrale text Sans of the same Beckett.
To the end the Irish writer opts for the term lessness, neologism that he invents for the occasion in order to render one infinite and deprivation mixture, one synonymous emptiness of apotheosis and that with directed reference to just the literary text. Probably neither Cioran neither Beckett reminded the English term lensless in its photographic meaning (without disc of a valve) with which it connotes particular half technical of resumption and exactly pinhole.
But the involuntary analogy between the two words is extraordinary in how much lessness appears to be the philosophical application of lensless.
Lacking any mediating element (the lens) to give the subject before it a final form or organization, the camera’s hole breaks down reality into an obscure, symbolic portrayal, where darkness hovers at the edges while light is directed to the centre of the image. This absence of the lens’ mediation prevents the picture benefiting from a series of formal aspects which one would expect to find in conventional photography, the most important being focus.
But not only that, the perspective lent by this means is no longer of the type devised by Brunelleschi, the range of focal length becomes unrecognizable, the mass ratios are unknown, the objects in the picture take on totally incongruous proportions, the subject is often blurred by paradox and a strong sense of disorientation pervades.
So, in the end, the pinhole photographer is a sort of unlimited voyeur, in the sense that he or she is compelled to look at everything that stands before the camera yet, at the same time, see nothing of what the camera (or rather, the hole) registers visually.
The situation is peculiar, but maybe one of the (many) creative possibilities of this practice lies in the very dyscrasia between what is beheld and what is seen.
A pinhole camera is not concerned with time as an instant, does not have to face moments of decision, however true or false they may be; this kind of camera appreciates the absolute sameness of one moment and the next and reveals the state of things, from a truly symbolic perspective; it works (due to the often very lengthy exposure times) in a situation in which time is stretched, where the past is not yet the past and the present is not quite the present either.
Again, pinhole cameras perceive the emotional charge of the photograph in relation to the circumstances and appropriate it, giving the resulting pictures an often extra, unexpected bonus; the photo and the pinhole camera become a single entity.
This information should help you understand today’s pinhole pictures: but the discussion would not be complete without looking at this form of photography as a form of “dark photography”. Pitch black shadows alongside blinding lights, the depth of its tones, a kind of visual tunnel generated by the light falling away towards the picture’s edges, cryptic subjects, morbid themes, the uncertainty of the vision: all these aspects lend a veneer of mystery to these magical, dreamlike icons, intrinsically linked to the archetypes of our individual or collective memory.
Lessness, after all."

CK → I came across this next pinhole photographer by chance on the internet. I was impressed with his unique way of seeing and capturing the world around him with his pinhole camera. Thanks Massimo for sharing your inspiring words and images with us for this month's pinhole photographer feature.

pinhole photograph

pinhole photograph

pinhole photograph

pinhole photograph

pinhole photograph

pinhole photograph

pinhole photograph

pinhole photograph

pinhole photograph

pinhole photograph

pinhole photograph

pinhole photograph

pinhole photograph

pinhole photograph

pinhole photograph

pinhole photograph

pinhole photograph

pinhole photograph

pinhole photograph

pinhole photograph

All photos copyright © 2009 Massimo Stefanutti and Reproduced by Permission

June 2009 Feature

Jesseca Ferguson in her studio working
with 4x5 pinhole camera, Polaroid 55 type film, 2004.

Jesseca is also the American contact for "American Metaphor/Metafory Amerikanskie," a show of work by eight American pinhole photographers, scheduled for
November 12 - December 31, 2009
at Galeria Pusta in Katowice, PL.
(This show is part of OFFO 2009, a pinhole photography festival taking place throughout about 50 galleries in Southern Poland.)

Jesseca Ferguson

Featured Pinhole
Photographer

Jesseca lives, works
and teaches in Boston
Massachusetts

"The poetic aspects of pinhole photography are what draw me to it. Although the pinhole camera is 'blind,' because it has no viewfinder or lens, I find that it 'sees' in mysterious ways. The pinhole camera’s 'sight' grants infinite depth of field to the object and images before it, thus allowing us to see the camera’s pinhole vision, which is characterized by the odd clarity of dreams or memory.

Working in my home studio and using only natural light, my exposures often take several hours. I then contact print my images on artists paper using 19th century processes. Often I collage my pinhole images onto antique book boards, incorporating snippets of text and time-stained papers. The resulting 'photo object' alludes to the passage of time, and to that private interior library which I believe serves as a paradigm for collective and personal memory.

My work is slow, hand-built, and cumulative, rather like the layering of dust or
memories over time."

CK → It is my pleasure to announce Jesseca Ferguson as my next pinhole photographer feature. Not only is she a pinhole photographer, but she was also responsible for co-curating with Walter Crump, the amazing collection of pinhole photos exhibited in 2007 called Made in Poland: Contemporary Pinhole Photography, an exhibition of seven pinhole photographers from Poland. After viewing the pinhole photos of Andrzej Bogacz, Tomasz Dobiszewski, Danuta Gibka, Jaroslaw Klups, Georgia Krawiec, Marek Noniewicz, and Edyta Wypierowska, you will find them to be an impressive group of artists. It is my honor to be able to showcase some of Jesseca's pinhole photos as the June 2009 pinhole photographer feature. Thanks, Jesseca, and I wish you all the best in the future wherever your creative path leads you.

Title: Circus horse/mirror (constructed)
pinhole photograph, collage

Title: Bird/astronomy book (constructed)
pinhole photograph, collage

Title: Finis (constructed)
pinhole photograph, collage

Title: Excerptt (constructed)
pinhole photograph, collage

Title: Italian Woman/profile, 10x8 in. print
pinhole photograph, collage

Title: Bird/book/Paris (constructed)
pinhole photograph, collage

Title: Anatomical head (constructed)
pinhole photograph, collage

Title: Reading Lesson XV, 10x8 in. print
pinhole photograph, collage

Title: Bottle/spiral/moths, 10x8 in. print
pinhole photograph, collage

Title: Blue E (constructed)
pinhole photograph, collage

I hope and plan to feature more Polish pinhole photographers in the future, so please check back for updates. Thanks -Chris

All photos copyright © 2009 Jesseca Ferguson and Reproduced by Permission

May 2009 Feature

Darren Constantino with his homemade 120 film pinhole camera. Photo by Bill Lewis.

Darren Constantino

Featured Pinhole
Photographer

Canfield, Ohio

"The digital age has turned photography into a lazy man's sport. And I love it, because I'm lazy. No dealing with film. No darkroom chemicals. That's for me.

But when the passion I had for photography as a youth was rekindled a few years ago, it was pinhole photography, not digital, that lit the fire. I was awed (and still am) by the amazing images people are able to create, and I'm fascinated by the unique pinhole cameras people design. Like I said: I'm lazy, so most of my shooting is digital. But my favorite images are those I get when I make the effort to use the pinhole camera that I made with my own hands. It's very rewarding."

CK → Since starting my Flickr photostream in 2004, I've had the pleasure of seeing a lot of photos from photographers all over the word. I remember seeing and liking Darren's photos well before he got into pinhole photography. So I wasn't surprised that I liked his pinhole photography. I admire how Darren takes extra care in every little detail of the pinhole photo process. His latest pinhole perspectives have a sense of motion and excitement to them that remind me of why this art form is so great.

Veering Left
Pinhole photo of Trek bicycle in motion - Created with homemade 120 pinhole camera

Pinhole One
Pinhole photo of a lighthouse on Lake Erie, Ohio. Created with homemade 120 pinhole camera

At the Beach with my Pinhole Camera
Pinhole photo lifeguard tower on the Wildwood Crest beach. Created with homemade 120 pinhole camera

Pinhole Peak
Paint Creek, West Virginia - This unpaved road leads off into the mysterious Appalachian Mountains. PinHolga photo

Pinhole Seesaw
A pinhole photo of Darren's sister Sharon on a seesaw in Brookfield, Ohio. Created with homemade 120 pinhole camera

Calla Road
A pinhole photo of Mahoning County, Ohio - December 2004. Created with 120 pinholga pinhole camera

Pinhole +
A pinhole photo of a lifeguard chair at a lake in Brookfield, Ohio. Created with homemade 120 pinhole camera

Sun Boat
A pinhole photo lifeguard boat at Wildwood Crest, New Jersey. Created with homamde pinhole camera.

On Coming Traffic
A pinhole photo of on coming car in Canfield, Ohio - April 2006. Created with pinholga 120 pinhole camera

Iowa Dragstrip
A pinhole photo of dirt road in Davenport, Iowa. Created with homamde pinhole camera.

Pinhole Shutter
A photo of the cable release activated shutter inside Darren Constantino's homemade 120 pinhole camera.

Darren C's Pinholga Pinhole Camera
A photo of Darren's pinholga 120 film pinhole camera with cable release and mini tripod

All photos copyright © 2009 Darren Constantino and Reproduced by Permission

April 2009 Feature

Zone plate self-portrait photo
of Scott McMahon

Scott McMahon

Featured Pinhole
Photographer

Lancaster, PA

Artist's website:
www.scottmcmahonphoto.com

"Time is such a fragile thing, but steadfast and always there. I am interested in how the pinhole camera can capture and illustrate the passage of time, the changing expressions and postures of a person or landscape and how information gets distilled in a single image. The simplicity of the pinhole camera and the complexity of the images it is capable of capturing has fascinated me for many years. By using handmade and often subject specific pinhole cameras I photograph intimate aspects of the world around us and capture fleeting moments of the ephemeral nature of existence. I believe that pinhole is closer to how we see, imagine, dream and process images"

CK → As we all seem to be rocketing into the fast paced world of digital photography, it's refreshing to discover and see photographers like Scott McMahon still slowly creating photographs the old fashion way. Using fine art processes to capture the essence of who we are as human beings... beautiful, mysterious and imperfect. When I look at Scott's photos, I get a sense of slow distilled artistry that comes from being dedicated to the creation of the art form. As if each photo was hand carved into the paper and never to be created the same way again. It's no wonder that Scott's photos are published in one of the most acclaimed pinhole books, Pinhole Photography, Rediscovering a Historic Technique (2nd & 3rd Edition) by Eric Renner. Thanks Scott for sharing your work with us here and I wish you well wherever your creative path leads you in the future.

Harmonic Grid
8"x8" zone plate tintype, 2004

Stranded
10"x8" gum bichromate zone plate pinhole photograph, 1999

Peters Valley
10"x8" gum bichromate zone plate pinhole photograph, 1999

Cascading
36" x 9.5" gum bichromate pinhole photograph, 2003

Drift
8"x10" zone plate gum bichromate pinhole photograph, 1998

Meeting Before the Flood
8"x10" zone plate gum bichromate pinhole photograph, 1998

Gathering Pincer
8"x10" gum bichromate pinhole photograph, 1996

Ill At Ease
5"x4" pinhole tintype, 2000

Collector
5"x4" pinhole tintype, 2000

Truth Window
4"x5" pinhole tintype on enameled copper, 2003

Truth Window 2
4"x5" pinhole tintype on enameled copper, 2003

Pump Station
30"x10" toned cyanotype pinhole photograph, 2002

Set For The Rise
10"x8" gum bichromate zone plate photograph, 1997

Rain
10"x8" gum bichromate pinhole photograph, 1993

Remnants of Classical Spirit
10"x8" gum bichromate zone plate pinhole photograph, 1998

Under Torment Sleep
5"x8" (case) pinhole tintype (approx. 5"x1"), 2000

Insect/Flower
2"x2" (approx.) silver gelatin pinhole photograph, 1997

Pinhole Cameras
wood, metal, cardboard, foam core, modified lens cameras, etc. 1993-present

All photos copyright © 2009 Scott McMahon and Reproduced by Permission

March 2009 Feature

Pinhole photo of Dianne Bos (Italy)

Dianne Bos

Featured Pinhole
Photographer

Canada

Artist's website:
www.diannebos.com

"A lot has changed in communication technologies since I made my first pinhole camera thirty years ago. Oddly enough all these new high tech toys have made taking photographs with my various pinhole cameras even more rewarding.

I'm not the only one who feels this way. One can see by the numerous pinhole websites (including this one of Chris Keeney's) that the desire to understand the basic principles of light and photography and use them to make images has really grown, possibly as a reaction to more complex technologies. I love this pinhole process not just for the unique images you can produce, but because it forces you to slow down and really look at and experience what you are photographing. I never was in league with the 1/250 of a second representation. That's not the world I live in, see and experience.

The bulk of my photo work over the past 20 years has explored the landscape and architectural icons. Travel and time are themes that reoccur in my work. Most of my exhibited work has explored the familiar iconic images of classic travelers’ destinations. My focus is on the mood certain sites trigger in our memories, but which rarely can be captured on film. Because of the long exposure times I use, these images record not an instant but a passage of time at a site, distilling the essence of a location. By combining images of the old and new worlds I’m trying to present a world where distance is no longer an issue, but our time to savor the essence of what is around us is."

CK → There are those that follow and those that lead and I think Dianne is one of those people that leads. I like how Dianne explores the deep corners of her imagination using pinhole photography to see the world in a whole new differant way. With that being said, I was pleased to find that Dianne is a pinhole photography teacher as well. I can only imagine how much fun it would be to take one of Dianne Bos' pinhole workshops in Italy this May. Thanks Dianne for sharing your words and images with us here. Can't wait to see more of Dianne's photos and what comes out of her pinhole workshops this spring in Italy.

Petit Larousse 1963
Pinhole camera book
2003

Versailles Ghost 2003
Pinhole photo chromogenic print. 30 x 30"

Studio (Artist’s Studio, Montecastello di Vibio, Italy)
Pinhole photo (Silver print 18 x 18")

Jet Frost
Pinhole photo

Horse Chateau
(Chateau de Gudanes, France, 2004)
Pinhole photo - Silver gelatin print. 40 x 40"

Gargoyle
Paris, France, 1991
Pinhole photo

Beach
(Sitges, Spain 1991)
Pinhole photo

Milky Way by Candlelight, 1999
Pinhole photo - Silver print. 32 x 40"

Galaxy Self Portraits as Clusters (1999)
Pinhole photo - Silver print. 16 x 20"

All photos © 2009 Diane Bos and Reproduced by Permission

February 2009 Feature

Pinhole self-portrait of Scott Speck
Two second exposure
Ilford 3200 b/w film at f/138
Zero Image 2000 6x6cm
pinhole camera

Scott Speck

Featured Pinhole
Photographer

Maryland
United States

Artist's website:
www.scottspeck.com

"My wife and I experimented with a Zero Image 2000 6x6cm pinhole camera back in 2006 and, upon viewing the resulting first frame from a roll of Ilford PanF-50 b/w film, I was hooked. I'm still drawn, now and then, back to that same location on an antique iron railroad bridge in Savage, Maryland, to the moment when I unwittingly found something remarkable...

Through a pinhole, the mundane appears miraculous. Previously unseen and remarkable aspects of a scene are revealed in startling detail. Through it all, I'm charged with enthusiasm and curious about what else is possible.

Pinhole photography surprises me, and each frame that I record is an experiment. What magic will rectilinear projection work this time? How will the blur of time, spread out over minutes and hours, smooth out portions of the scene, and what will that smoothness look like – feathers, cotton, or a milk of flowing smoke?

I experience vertigo when staring up limestone, granite, or marble columns in an architectural pinhole photograph. It's a reliving of reality that transcends the original scene. I crave this immersion, this potent mixture of the near and far, in textures ranging from rust to granite to skin, all rendered with tactile intimacy.

Ironically, I use the simplest wooden boxes, free of the complexity of multi-element lenses, to find such drama in existence. I am relaxed, patient, and mindful with the pinhole camera, shooting worry-free in all weather conditions. Each photograph is framed in a gentle darkness, with edge distortions that beckon me to push the envelope of what I call beautiful.

Since 2006, I have used a Zero Image 2000 6x6cm camera and a Zero Image 4x5 camera as my main instruments of photography. With the Zero 4x5, I shoot almost exclusively with the 25mm focal length, providing an ultrawide view with a 160 degree diagonal and several stops of vignetting across the field. I am currently constructing a camera using an old Hasselblad film back and a Prontor-S shutter to create a camera that will enable hand-held, precisely timed shooting with high speed 120 film.

I have experimented with architecture, landscape, macro, and portraiture photography using pinhole cameras, and my imagination is perpetually generating new ideas and new experiments to try. I could summarize it best here — through the pinhole, the real becomes surreal. This simple instrumentality of hole-in-box enchants me and brings me joy and wonder about beauty in the world...

I am a member artist at Studio Gallery (www.studiogallerydc.com), one of the Dupont Circle art galleries in Washington, DC, where I show prints of my pinhole photographs and interact with other photographers, painters, and sculptors."

CK → Well I must say, this pinhole photographer really understands the art of pinhole depth of field. When I view Scott's pinhole photos, I find myself thinking, "Wow, look at all that detail and dimension". By looking through his photos, you can tell that Scott knows how to use all the right ingredients to make great pinhole photos (ie, 4x5 film, tripod & cable release and lots of interesting use of depth). Thanks Scott for sharing your words and images this month.

Title: The Madonna
Fifteen minute exposure at f/138
Fuji Acros-100 4x5 film
Zero Image 4x5 pinhole camera

Title: National Shrine Ceiling
40 minute exposure at f/136
Fuji Acros-100 4x5 b/w film
Zero Image 4x5 film
pinhole camera

Title: Messiah Mosaic
20 minute exposure at f/138
Zero Image 4x5 film pinhole camera
Fuji Acros-100 film

You can see more of Scott Speck's pinhole photos at:
www.scottspeck.com
or on his Flickr photostream integrity_of_light

All photos © 2009 Scott Speck and Reproduced by Permission

January 2009 Feature

Photo of Mabel Odessey by Gary Waters.

Mabel Odessey

Featured Pinhole
Photographer

Tarn Region
(Southwest France)

Artist's website:
http://mabelodessey.com

"I have been working solely with pinhole for about 20 years now, yet I continue to find new ways to use it, to step outside the box (excuse the pun) and use the limitations in a creative way.

I first started photographing musicians as a job for an album cover in 2002. During the session I asked the musicians to play while I thought about what I would do. I uncovered my pinhole in preparation, and then I got carried away with the music and found myself responding with light (the studio flash) to the sounds, after a number of flashes I covered up the pinhole and did several more images in the same way.

When I processed the film, I realised that by using multiple studio flashes I could build up the images almost as a duet with the music being played.
The long exposure time of the pinhole camera meant I could successively layer the textures of the music so that the images were “equivalents” (Alfred Steiglitz) of the sounds or portraits of the music itself. After working with musicians from diverse backgrounds I met jazz pianist Stéphane Sassi who was keen to participate in the work and brought to it his unique discovery of the "piano paille"(paille means straw in french). "Piano Paille" is a form of prepared piano where straws are installed inside the piano.

The project Piano Paille Pinhole was born. Over a period of a few years we met up regularly to improvise between music and photography. Because I was not behind the camera while making the photographs there was no separation between photographer and subject; Sassi and I would interact fluidly, tease and surprise each other. Occasionally I stop the musician in order to create sharp moments in the images this too had an impact on the music, imposing silences and changing the course of its progression. Like in musical improvisation nothing was predetermined, we worked spontaneously, inventing the rules of the game as we went each time trying new techniques to see where they would lead.
I began to explore the possibilities of colour pinhole which in the past I had found too literal. Used in this context the colours created abstract marks on the film echoing the strange and luminous sounds of the music.

The delay between taking the pictures and seeing the results also meant we had a chance to step back and use the pictures for a starting point for another photo-music session. Time is an essential element in music like photography and the fact that photographs are made over the period of a musical composition gives them depth and resonance that I believe an instant snap could not."

CK → I like the idea of two artists working together to create something new and unique. All my life I have been a music lover, so when I ran across Mabel's work, I was intrigued with what she was doing with her pinhole photography. The thought of two artists creating art at same time, both in tune with artistic rhythm of creation, inspires me. Many thanks to Stéphane Sassi (Pianist) and Mabel Odessey for sharing your artistic process with us here and I wish you all the best in your future performances.

Mabel Odessey at the Arthur Batut Museum here in France
during a performance of piano paille pinhole. An artist
collaboration by Mabel Odessey and Stéphane Sassi.

All photos © 2009 Mabel Odessey and Reproduced by Permission

December 2008 Feature

Pinhole self portrait of Mark Tweedie

Mark Tweedie

Featured Pinhole
Photographer

Coventry, United Kingdom (UK)

Artist's website:
www.marktweedie.co.uk

"There seems to be a curious empathy between the homemade nature of our own lives and the representations we make of them using pinhole cameras: the results are very individual; the clarity or otherwise of the result is very much down to the methods of manufacture and use employed by the photographer; unexpected - and often beautifully surprising - events of light and perspective frequently throw the user's previsualisation into a role of very secondary importance.

I use paper negatives almost exclusively and have grown to love their unpredictability and frequently wonderful textural quality. The long exposures required, sometimes lasting hours, grace the images with a powerful sense of narrative and I find myself prefering to produce photographs in series or sequence rather than single images. This is not by design but rather that the inevitably slow processes involved allow - if not impose - a wider view of what is happening at the time. The first image will often spark ideas for modifications, expansions and developments on the theme and that wonderful sensation of "giving up" or ceasing to "try too hard" takes over. At such times there is a transcendental aspect to making photographs, working more as a channel for impressions than as a premeditating, clinical recorder of things."

CK → I've always thought that the art of pinhole photography and poetry went together. So when I first saw Mark's work, I was impressed with how well he had fused the two creative processes together. Words and images working together to create a look and feel that would transport the viewer's imagination to far away places. Places where nature, time and history whispered into your eyes and ears. It it my pleasure to be able to share some of Mark's creative and inspiring work for this month's pinhole photographer feature.

Title: Breakthrough
Paper negative pinhole

Title: Mwnt, Wales
Pinhole intaglio / photogravure

Title: Stonehenge
Paper negative pinhole

Title: Stonehenge - closer to the stones
Paper negative pinhole

Title: Infinity's Edge
Paper negative pinhole

Title: Wave
4x5 45mm pinhole on HP5+

Title: Copper Whiskey Barrel
Paper negative pinhole

Title: Copper Whiskey Barrel
Paper negative pinhole

Title:Pinhole Jan 1
Paper negative pinhole

Title: Berkswell Church Lamp
Paper negative pinhole

Title:The Choice
Paper negative pinhole

Title: Release
Paper negative pinhole

Mark Tweedie's Pinhole camera
Detail of pinhole still life set-up

Title: Clipped
Paper negative pinhole

All photos © 2008 Mark Tweedie and Reproduced by Permission

November 2008 Feature

Portrait of Wayne by Ken Merfeld, 2008

Wayne Martin Belger

Featured Pinhole
Photographer

Tucson, Arizona

Artist's website:
boyofblue.com

The tools I create and work with are pinhole cameras. With pinhole photography, the same air that touches my subject can pass through the pinhole and touch the photo emulsion on the film. There’s no barrier between the two. There are no lenses changing and manipulating light. There are no chips converting light to binary code. With pinhole what you get is an unmanipulated true representation of a segment of light and time, a pure reflection of what is at that moment. With some exposure times getting close to 2 hours, it’s an unsegmented movie from a movie camera with only one frame.

The creation of a camera comes from my desire to relate to a subject. When I choose a subject I spend time studying it. Then I start visualizing how I would like a photo of the subject to look. When that’s figured out, I start on the camera stage of the project by collecting parts, artifacts and relics that relate to the subject. When I’ve gathered enough parts and feel for the subject, I start the construction of the camera. I create the cameras from Aluminum, Titanium, Copper, Brass, Bronze, Steel, Silver, Gold, Wood, Acrylic, Glass, Horn, Ivory, Bone, Human Bone, Human Skulls, Human Organs, Formaldehyde, HIV+ Blood and relics all designed to be the sacred bridge of a communion offering between myself and the subject. All to witness and be a tool of the horrors of creation and the beauty of decay presented by the author light and time.


CK → Interestingly enough, the first time I met Wayne, he wasn't toting a pinhole camera, but instead he was playing the didgeridoo for the Wicked Tinkers. In 2004 I was asked by the band to photograph them playing live at the Long Beach Celtic Musical Festival in California. After seeing and hearing the band play along with talking with Wayne in person, I was instantly inspired by Wayne's passion for making art... whatever form it may be. Ironically, It was until after I'd photographed the band that I found out that we both shared a simlar interest for pinhole photography.

Camera: Dragonfly
Wayne Belger's Dragonfly pinhole camera

Camera: Wood
Wayne Belger's "Wood" Camera

Camera: Yemaya
Wayne Belger's Yamaya underwater pinhole Camera

All photos © 2008 Wayne Martin Belger and Reproduced by Permission

October 2008 Feature

Pinhole portrait of Michael Hensdill

ForeverSouls

Michael & J Hensdill

Featured Pinhole
Photographer

Guesstonia, NC
USA

Foreversouls on Flickr

As a photojournalist I spend my time looking for fractions of seconds
that when combined with the right light and the correct framing tell a story
and capture the essence of a moment in someone’s life. Everything is digital. Everything is quick. Photography has become computerized and negatives have been replaced by pixels. The darkroom replaced by the laptop.

Working with the pinhole blender camera is like being inside that refrigerator box once again. The images I make with the blender surprise me and allow the wonder of photography to return. The camera requires light to paint upon the film’s surface for seconds or even minutes which seems to melt the moments into a single frame. There is little to no precision required as the camera inverts and bends the subject matters, weaving color and shapes back into themselves, creating the essence of the scene instead of its exact reproduction.

All the blender images here were made with Chris Peregoy’s
Original 120 Pinhole Blender camera"

CK → I always admired how this photographic couple celebrated their life together through photography. They both would create and post images to a Flickr photostream called Foreversouls. They just didn't post pinhole images, but other photos that documented their lives as husband, wife, parent and professional. About a year ago I remember seeing some of Micheal's pinhole blender shots and thinking they were quite unique. I liked how many of Micheal's pinscapes would tell a story as one image blended into another.

All photos © 2008 Michael & J Hensdill and Reproduced by Permission

September 2008 Feature

1999 self portrait of Claudia Wornum made with pinhole zone plate camera.

Claudia Wornum

Featured Pinhole
Photographer

California
United States

www.claudiawornum.com

"The first time I saw pinhole imagery was in an alternative photography class. I was amazed that you could use the long exposure times to 'ghost' figures in and out of the final picture. There is a wonderful series by Julie Schachter in The Visionary Pinhole by Lauren Smith. These photos were so inspirational, so innovative to me, I'd never seen anything like them. I mulled over the possibilities but didn't begin in earnest till about a year later when I was completely bored of my current batch of lens photos. I decided to shamelessly imitate Ms. Schachter's ideas. After a lot of challenges: working out how to get any image, much less and interesting one, I learned I wanted an entirely different outcome. I had started backpacking and was far more drawn to landscape. I also wanted to use the open ended possibilities of the home made pinhole camera to make a foundation for experimental processes. I could cut a full roll of 120 mm film in half and create a continuous panorama. I could use 8 in. x 10 in. Ortho Litho films, placed side by side in giant aluminum cans to get an extra wide angle, detail rich large format image.

I particularly liked to solarize the Litho in the darkroom. The huge surface area of the negatives provides a lot of information to explore. I develop my own color negatives so I can tweak the process at any point. I use black and white film and print chemistry on color films and vary the temperatures and timing on everything. Expired films seem to work best for me, they carry their own surprising quirks and I feel less precious about the investment, consequently I'm even more inclined to break the rules and take risks. It's a long way from my inspiration but I still plan to adapt Ms. Schachter's 'Bathers Series' into a subjective vision, possibly involving alternative processes, certainly using a pinhole camera."

CK → As we all head into the Fall season, I am happy to announce this next pinhole photographer feature. Claudia's pinhole solarizations of nature inspired me the first time I saw them. Being a nature lover myself, I enjoyed how her solarized pinhole C prints gave me a unique perspective into back country landscapes she traveled through.

All photos © 2008 Claudia Wornum and Reproduced by Permission

August 2008 Feature

2007 pinhole self portrait of FX Lantrua
(FX for François-Xavier) created with a homemade 6x9 120 film format camera.
titled autoportait

FX Lantrua

(François-Xavier)

Featured Pinhole
Photographer

Marseille, France

François-Xavier on Flickr

You can also find his work here
at sinlab.com

"I began shooting with a pinhole cameras because I wanted to simplify my photography approach as much as possible. I wanted to go back to the simple source, to the basis of the photographic image creation. A box, a hole and a piece of photo sensible material.

This statement created needs of experimentation, of technical improvements and of diversification of my shooting systems, giving them different results and distortion of my environment."

CK → I was pleased to have accidentally run across this talented French photographer and pinhole camera maker. I was especially impressed with François' homemade Omniscope images. They really give a unique perspective of the classic and modern architecture that you find around France.

All photos © 2008 FX Lantrua - (Francois-Xavier) and Reproduced by Permission

July 2008 Feature

2008 pinhole self portrait of Peter Wiklund
titled The awakening

Peter Wiklund

Featured Pinhole
Photographer

Stockholm, Sweden

www.peterpinhole.com

"I started taking pinhole photographs in the early 1990s, after having seen some image (don't remember which one any longer) with an extremely tempting expression. Yep, that was how I saw the world as well! I discovered the wonderful magazine "Pinhole Journal" (R.I.P.) and started taking my first steps into this mysterious and oh so appealing new world of imagery. Since then, I have mostly worked with 120-film in an old bellows camera turned into a very wide-angled pinhole camera. But lately I started using other cameras as well; film canister cameras and some commercial pinhole cameras such as the amazing anamorph Abelson Scope camera.

The pinhole camera is a tool that allows me to create images that I can imagine - but not always see. But most of the time it is a tool that helps me a lot in the image-creating, since it involves a great deal of chance. I seldom know exactly what the images will look like - which quite often make them a lot better than they had been if I had worked mainly from my own plans. I also really just love opening the camera, seeing the light flowing into it, creating a unique image - an image that can never be repeated... (I just hope the exposure is somewhat correct! ;-)) "

CK →Looking at Peter's photos is liking going on some psychedelic trip. I really enjoy the unique perspectives he explores with his pinhole photography. BTW, I plan on adding a number of Peter's image with this text in the near future, so please check back.

All photos © 2008 Peter Wiklund and Reproduced by Permission

June 2008 Feature

2008 Holga self portrait of Seán Duggan
titled World Traveler

Seán Duggan

Featured Pinhole
Photographer

www.seanduggan.com

"Pinhole photography is magic. With a small box that slowly collects time and light you can make the most amazing images. This slower and more contemplative form of photography is a welcome detour from the megapixels and digital imaging technology of my "day job" simply because it it so wonderfully non-tech. The process is a throwback to the way photographers first made images back in the mid 1800s and I  appreciate this connection to the early history of photography. Intellectually, I also love the fact that this image-making "technology" was written about back in the time of Aristotle, and even earlier (they just didn't have the ability to record the images back then). For me, photographing with a pinhole camera is as much about the experience of making the image as it is about the finished photograph. My memories of venturing into the world to create pinhole photos are as cherished as the actual images that I collect in that amazing magic box."

CK → I like how Seán mixes up his film pinhole and toy camera work with his digital photography.
After looking through Seán's gallery of Zero Image 6x9 pinhole images titled "Artifacts of an uncertain origin", I felt even stronger about how I believe one practice helps the other. It's not about film and it's not about digital, it's about how the final image effects the viewer. I also like how Seán is no stranger to helping others learn how to make their own photos better. Check out he's up to on his website seanduggan.com (Sean Duggan: Digital Photography & Photoshop Workshops). Thanks Seán for sharing yours words and images with us. Keep up the great work! -Chris

All photos © 2008 Seán Duggan and Reproduced by Permission

May 2008 Feature

2008 Pinhole self portrait of Jon Krummel titled Bike Path 01

Jon Krummel

Featured Pinhole
Photographer

www.jonkrummel3d.com

"Pinhole photography is so much fun! My brother Brian taught me the process nine months ago and I was immediately hooked. It gets my creative gears going because everything in the process is a variable and open to creative exploration.  You can play with the shape of the camera, orientation of the picture plane, type of paper or film, length of exposure, alternative processing, and on and on. I love thinking up ways to make new cameras, it really appeals to my puzzle solving nature. Watching an image materialize out of the developing ether is absolute magic and I love the dark spooky atmosphere you get with black and white paper negatives. What started out as a cool way to keep in touch with my brother across the country, has developed into a real passion for me, and my brother and I have never been closer."

CK → In October of 2007 I featured Brian Krummel's pinhole photos on this page. As time passed I discovered some photos created by photographer by the name of Jon Krummel. I thought, "hmmmm, could these two people be related?" I soon realized that they were related and thought, how perfect it would be to have them both featured here together. Having a brother myself, I can relate to the relationship that Jon and Brian must have. I also think it's great how the process of creating pinhole photography has brought these brothers together.

Title: Getty Stairs
Homemade Pinhole Camera

Title: Angel Moulin Rouge
Homemade Pinhole Camera

Title: Motorcycle 02
Homemade Pinhole Camera

Title: Chinese Garden
Homemade Pinhole Camera

Title: Old Tractor Chestnut Tea
Homemade Pinhole Camera

All photos © 2008 Jon Krummel and Reproduced by Permission

April 2008 Feature

Noriko Ohba

Featured Pinhole
Photographer

Japan

Noriko Ohba on the web:
- www.tea-room.net
- Flickr photostream (Tearoom)

"The reason why I like pinhole photography is that my curiosity is always stimulated. I always find the process of making the photo exciting. The time spent creating pinhole photos heals me. When I am looking at subject with my camera, I learn the sense that I am talking with myself. I think more so, when I'm taking flower and the plant pictures."

CK → I like the connection that this Japanese pinhole photographer has with her Zeroimage pinhole camera. Her photos are just what you'd expect to see when using that beautiful wood pinhole camera.
It is my pleasure to feature this artist as this April's pinhole photographer.

Title: Dream Colors
Taken at Osaka Park Japan // Zeroimage 2000 // 35mm Pinhole Image

Title: Medicine Of My Smile
Zeroimage 2000 35mm Pinhole Image