Self Portrait, Sleepy Hollow, 4x5 Pinhole Photograph
There are the obvious visual clues as to the camera I am using here: the distorted wide angle, the vignetting and blurring of the edges of the image. The pinhole camera also lacks a viewfinder, which means that you have to look carefully when planning your picture and be willing to accept that things won’t always go the way you expect them to.
By far, though, the most important factor in pinhole photography is time. In taking these photographs, I would sometimes sit for close to an hour, reading a book, waiting for an exposure to finish. Having so much time away from distractions—having time just to think—is much more important than I’ve realized and very conducive to making art. I am not really ready to talk about some of the ideas that have been coming to me on my journeys out into the woods, and I have no idea if those ideas will translate into photographs that are worth anything, but the process alone has been enlightening.
I think these images are interesting, but they feel like a side-trip rather than a destination. Sometimes diversions are exactly what we need to realize where our focus should really be.
Self Portrait, Sleepy Hollow, 4x5 Pinhole Photograph
Prospect Park, 4x5 Pinhole Photograph
4 Comments
Hi
I’m glad to see others playing with Pinholes too. If you don’t mind dropping format downto 120 roll, I’ve been really impressed with my little Holga
Not sure if this will be able to be posted
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3002/2882283918_1cea311fa2.jpg
REALLY like these, Dalton. There’s a purity to the imagery that I’m feeling. I think that it’s all about you sitting there for an hour, to get an image that’s considered and a marker of time. If anything it’s anti-modern photography - it isn’t throwaway, it’s taken effort to create and isn’t concerned with sharpness and megapixels. Nice.
Yes, I’m always surprised what ingenious tricks people play with the Holga—adding a Polaroid back, a pinhole, night exposures… so many fun things to try.