Working With Pinhole Cameras.

One workshop that I went on was one to do with pinhole cameras. I have been interested in them for quite a while, and when I read about them in the experimental photography book, I wanted to try one even more.

First, we drilled a hole in the side of an instant coffee tin. You had the option to drill into the side of the tin, or the bottom. There was one spare tin, so I took it and did both. After that, we painted the insides black, to absorb any light, and to make it as dark as possible. After it was dry, we taped a small square of aluminium foil over the hole, and poked it with a pin, making our pin hole. Once we were in the dark room, we used some photo-sensitive black and white photo paper and stuffed it inside the tin. We covered the holes with our thumbs, and we went to a nearby window. We each then placed our tins on the window with the pinhole facing outwards, and counted to 45 seconds (because that's how long you are meant to expose the emulsion to direct sunlight in pinhole cameras. it's a full minute if you are facing away from the sun). We then developed the photographs, and they each came out wonderfully. I experimented with bending the paper in an 'S' shape, which distorted the photograph when it was developed. We were then allowed to take small squares of emulsion paper and take photographs. I had a lot of trouble with exposing properly, so out of maybe nine or ten pieces of paper I used, I got about three proper photographs out of it. I experimented even further with distorting the paper to make an effect. I folded one piece of paper in a zig zag pattern, which resulted in a striped effect due to some strips being exposed to the sun more than others, and I even scrunched bits of paper completely, Some experiments didn't come out at all though, but that was just because I didn't expose them properly.

Overall, I really enjoyed that workshop. I kept my pinhole cameras just in case I wanted to do it again, and I even nabbed some spare scraps of emulsion paper so that I can try it at home, however I don't have a dark room available at home, so transporting and developing the paper will be a very difficult task. I think that this process would be ideal for some final pieces as it is in black and white (which seems to be a direction that I am moving towards), and it is very experimental. I just need to come up with some ideas for a shoot.