Pinhole Photography
A Short History
I stumbled into pinhole photography only recently. For a long time, I had been thinking about creating a pinhole for my digital camera but most of what I had seen on the web was less than inspiring. On the other hand, traditional film-based pinhole photography really fired my imagination. I took it as a personal challenge to try to raise the bar in the digital realm.
What I discovered was something quite unexpected. The atmosphere and mood in my pinhole photographs was completely different than any of my other work. As unfamiliar as it was, it also felt like the purest and most personal image-making I had yet attempted. My journey has just begun but this newfound expression is currently consuming all of my creative energy.
I have just completed an eBook entitled "Stills from a Dream" showcasing over 40 of my favorite pinhole photographs. Details are available at the Book Store.
Most recently, I have been experimenting with motion by shooting video with my digital camera using a pinhole. The results are crude to those used to super sharp, clean imagery but, at the same time, there is a mood or atmosphere that lives in this footage. It is timeless and mysterious. I have created a trilogy of short films all based around my thoughts on a world now clearly defined by a global virus. You can find them on my YouTube channel here.
What is it?
Pinhole photography, for those who don't know, is essentially capturing an image without using a traditional lens. In its place is a tiny hole, in my case drilled into a plastic bodycap. The resulting image is somewhat crude and lacks the sharpness of a glass lens but the character of the image is unique. Also, because the hole is so small, shutter times are expanded and long exposure effects can be achieved.
