What is Pinhole Photography?Pinhole photography (also known as the "camera obsura") is a type of photography that involves creating a light-tight room or box and then punching a small pin sized hole into one of the sides. The light from outside the box is then projected onto the opposite side of the hole. The image can then be recorded using light sensitive paper or film. A Brief History of PinholeThe first recorded pinhole photo was taken in 1827 by Nicéphore Niépce. However despite this there is evidence that pinhole photography has been around for a very long time, though be it in more rudimentary forms. The earliest description of what we now call “pinhole photography” can be traced back as far as 500BC, where such descriptions have been found in Chinese Mozi writings. Of course pinhole photography wasnt just limited to the Chinese. Over the last 2000 or so years it has spread across the world in various adaptations where it has picked up a few different uses, one of which being its use as a drawing aid for 17th century artists. Historical PhotographersA few notable historical photographers who used this technique include such people as; The 10th century Arab physicist Ibn al-Haytham who described using the Camera Obscura effect to study light and the stars. The Renaissance Artists Leonardo da Vinci, Leon Battista Alberti and Flippo Brunelleschi whom all helped to advance the understanding of the Camera Obscura and the basis of the one-point perspective. Nicéphore Niépce the 19th century French inventor who is believed to have taken the longest surviving photo using the pinhole technique. Contemporary PhotographersDespite its age pinhole photography is still used today by a number of modern photographers, all achieving a wide range of different effects. A few of the more renown photographers who use this technique include; Justin QuinnellJustin Quinnell an english photographer born and raised in Kent and one of the more notorious pinhole photographers of recent. Mainly in part down to his habit of taking photos from inside his mouth, creating some very unique perspectives. Not to say that’s the only pinholes he’s made but they are certainly some of the more striking. Analysis of workThis is a pinhole photograph by Justin Quinnell. Done by placing one of his “smileycams” in his mouth. A “smileycam” is what Quinnell calls his tiny small pinhole cameras he uses to take exposures from inside his mouth. Fun fact he also sells them on his website. In this particular photo he has his finger in his mouth creating an interesting composition in that his finger is the main centre point of the photo that slowly brings you out to his teeth which frame the photo. It’s interesting that Quinnell choose to have a completely black background for this photo, perhaps it was intentional to contrast the light pinks and whites of his hand and finger. Or perhaps it was just so not to over-complicate the image. At any rate the end result is nonetheless striking. As for the colour pallet of the image, its a lot of dark colours with a splash of warmth. For this it could be extrapolated that Quinnell perhaps boosted the saturation of the image though that could just be how the photo looked originally Barbara EssBarbara Ess, an American pinhole photographer known for her dramatic large scale photos. She often left the intention of her photos vague as to encourage people to come to their own interruptions about her work. Ess first got interested in pinhole photography when she stumbled upon a diagram of a Camera Obscura and decided to build her own. She said she was particularly drawn to the technique as “my mind works better when my means are narrowed” referring to the limited capabilities of the pinhole compared to say the modern cameras. Analysis of workThis is a pinhole photograph taken by Barbara Ess. It is from 2000 however I do not believe it has a name, with that being said it was however used as the cover of Ess’s photography book “I am not this body” published in 2005. The subject of this photo is of course Ess herself moving through a field. The composition of this image is quite interesting as you have the blurred image of Ess in the foreground and then the seemingly never ending expanse of field behind, pared with the long glow of the horizon at the very back. All encompassed in this monochrome hue giving the image an almost morbid feeling- as if there was an impending doom about to befall the subject, metaphorically speaking. Considering as Ess has always said she aims to photograph that which cannot be photographed, I’d say this interruption is quite a valid one. Whether or not that was the actual intent behind the image I can not say but nonetheless it is certainly interesting how many interruptions could be conjured up by this image. Now as for the method, from the looks of it it’s just a simple exposure taken by Ess as she was walking through a field- I’m extrapolating as I can’t find anything that explicitly states how she created this image. Tutor’s VideoVideo helped me to understand and visualise how pinhole cameras actually work as I had a hard time understanding how a tiny hole in dark box could even make a photograph to begin with. Also helped to refresh my memory when it came to typing up this blog. My PinholesThis is my collection of pinholes photographs I made. The first pinhole is a photo of the flower bed outside of the college’s main entrance. The second a small wall around the back of college. The third is a tad more complicated in that in was taken under a tree in a flower bed looking up to the sky, it also has a piece of lace that has been placed inside the actual pinhole box but I shall explain more momentarily. To create these pinholes we first selected a pinhole box each (a wooden light-tight box lined with black card with a tiny pin sized hole in the front to allow the smallest amount of light through that is needed for the exposure). Using the dark room we then took a small pic of photographic paper and placed it in the box. Sealed it back up and then took it outside to do the exposure. The day we did the first 2 pinholes it was rather overcast so we did each exposure for roughly 30 seconds. After we resealed the box that we then took it back into the dark room , took the photo out and developed it. I gave my photos each about 1 minute in the developer , 1 in the stopper and 5 in the fix before finally washing the chemicals off for about another 5 minutes. This is the end result. Though I can't say my photos have any hidden meaning or some kind of special merit to them, I do believe these first 2 were good practice for myself in learning what and how pinhole works. As for the third one, I created that one a couple days later, after wondering what and how putting objects in the actual pinhole camera would effect the end result. I decided to use some lace I found, firstly because lace has a lot of gaps and so would let more light in then say other materials, and secondly because I just like lace. As I previously mentioned when taking the photo I decided to place it under a tree in a flower bed. Why? Well I wanted the texture of the lace to come up quite sharp on the image and so figured a more intense exposure might work and because I didn’t want to over complicate the photo by having too much in the background (like a massive building for example). And so the light spotting of leaves seemed like a good alternative. I did also hope to get some of the flowers from the flower bed in the frame for a little extra layering, but it would seem the pinhole camera itself was too big to place between the flowers in such a way that you would be able to see them in the photo. Upon developing I do think this photo may have been a tad over-exposed. Probably because I angled it directly at the sun and didn’t take that fact into account when deciding how long the exposure should be. I exposed it for 30 seconds, the same as the other two photos I had taken previously. Future Use of PinholeIn the future I may make use of the pinhole technique as it goes quite well with my interest in the Victorian aesthetic and the more occult side of things (things like ghost photography for example). I could also use it to create reference images for my drawings if I fancied doing something ghostly and grainy. Health and Safety
Reference Links
https://www.alternativephotography.com/pinhole-history/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinhole_camera
https://www.researchgate.net/figure/The-camera-obscura-sketched-by-Leonardo-da-Vinci-in-Codex-Atlanticus-1515-preserved-in_fig1_291379167
https://www.lomography.com/magazine/64615-a-conversation-with-the-pinhole-wizard-justin-quinnell
https://www.lensculture.com/books/4103-i-am-not-this-body-the-pinhole-photographs-of-barbara-ess https://www.dazeddigital.com/art-photography/gallery/29603/0/barbara-ess
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