Michael McAuley’s camera and how it looked when I opened the camera up. Paper was so deteriorated that is could not be taken out. I scanned the whole thing mainly to show Michael what it looked like but then decided it was a learning moment and wanted to share it.
Read MoreThey Said It Wouldn't Last
A lot of the pinholes on this website are from when I was a photography teacher at Bainbridge High School. I really started the Project in order for my students there (and at PCNW where I was also teaching) would have a way to experience the pinhole camera without a darkroom. The students at both places made wonderful images for several years and I felt so good that they loved the process as much as I did. Now almost two years since I left BHS, the Pinhole Project thrives, despite what the naysayers utter. I get about 4 or 5 cameras in the mail each week and people often stop by the studio unannounced to bring me a camera. (Which is always a great surprise). I feel fortunate to be the director of the Project and that so many people want to continue making images.
I make images in this fashion as well.. It requires patience because the longer the exposure in general the better the sun trails and the better the image. It is so tempting to take down the camera sooner than later. I exposed one camera two years. Not because I wanted to but because I just did not get back to it where it was under a bridge in California. When I went back, the camera had not been touched. Pretty cool. So I am happy with the number of people willing to give this a try, happy with the images and happy to continue to make cameras and hand them out. I post today to show off some recent arrivals. I try to process them ASAP and post immediately to the website.
This is just a sampling and if you want to see more, feel free to look at all the folders in the Gallery. In the meantime here are some pretty wonderful images: People have photographed their homes, leaving the cameras up for six months or more, have used two hole cameras, been first users and also shot enough to earn their own folder on the website (10 or more images). Round cameras are always popular. If you have a special metal can, bring it on over and we will make it into a camera. I have paper up to 11 x 14 inches. Bigger cameras need more holes. Two, three and four cameras are awesome. So if you would like a camera or have a tin you would like to bring by, contact me via email and leave a street (land) address and we will send one out to you. . Donate to the Project or not, we will still send you a camera!
Recent arrivals:
The images in the grid above are by the following pinhole photographers, left to right
Top Row:
Eric Riedel and Barry Christensen: two hole camera, take a look at their folders!
Alan Marrero: First time user, exposing a second camera now.
Laura Brodax: This one was placed on a wall outside her home
Henry Glovinsky: Inside his new house in LA; a crazy pinhole that works!
2nd Row:
Mario & Luciana Colafrancesco: Made in Rome, Italy. by this awesome husband and wife team.
Kirsten Wilhelm A street, I think in front of her house.
Jesse Tampa: From the series of the inside her apartment; Look closely and you can see her white cat
Louisa Williams: She just did her tenth pinhole and now has her own folder on the website
Third Row:
Meghan McNeil and John Barcarro: A round pinhole exposed only 19 hours. A record for a short exposure
Kenneth Loen: Sent in while I was in Italy. Wonderful pinhole from down town Seattle.
Meghan McNeil and John Barcarro: Their front door. These two collaborators now have their own folder
Jenny Riffle: Made while she was on a fellowship in White Salmon, WA
A new two hole interior from Jess Tampa
Jess Tampa is a pinhole photographer who has been involved with the Pinhole Project since the beginning. She has seemingly narrowed down her images to interiors of her house in Oakland, California. Recently she came to visit and brought an old two hole camera that has been used by many people. She set this camera on the bookshelf at the end of the living room, unsecured and left it for about five months. Amazingly no one moved it or touched it during that time. She was surprised by the outcome because the curtains around the windows were closed most of the time the image was exposed. This is yet another example of unexplainable phenomena that happens with this type of photography. Why did the trees outside the windows show up so well?
If you look closely, you can see her white cat who laid on the same chair day in and day out. The other amazing thing that happened with this camera is how the floor swooped down and became the ceiling for the image on the bottom. Oh and did I mention the lights that hang around each window. how they showed up? Very cool. I show you this image in the hope that it will inspire you to expose a pinhole camera inside your house for up to six months or longer. You can see more of Jess’ pinholes on this site in her folder. Thanks for reading…..
Such Great Images from Bainbridge High School Students
I have spent the last few weeks working on the Pinhole Project website, going through my external hard drives and thumb drives and updating updating updating. The students at Bainbridge High School have made some incredible images over the last five years. I have put them on the website in eleven folders which equal about 1800 images. I loved doing this labor, and labor it was to make the website better and to begin to create an actual archive. I felt like I really got to know the images in the project in a new way. I decided to take out 10 or so if I can only choose that many. So I went through the archive and marked the ones that popped out to me. I ended with 95. Way too many. I am hoping to post 30 here. We shall see. Hard to leave so many out. I have always said there are no bad pinhole images. So true. Each one is unique. You can find these scattered throughout the BHS folders. Here are the best of the best. Thirty-two total. Enjoy looking!
2017: 42 Pinhole Cameras! 2018: 50 MORE !!
In November of 2017, the artist live work space where my studio is located had an Open Studio. Many many people came through our studios that day. I had made 50 pinhole cameras, thinking that I would have enough to last for a few months Forty-two (yes that is 42) walked out the door and have hopefully been put up and are exposing. I am very excited to get these cameras back. (Note: many have come back!) It seems they were going to many points far and wide: people were getting them for themselves and also as holiday presents for family members and friends across the country. One person said she was sending the camera to New Zealand. Special thanks to all those who got a camera that day. May the pinhole gods look down upon you and may the pinhole bandit never find your camera.
This year (2018) on November 10th, we will have another Open Studio at my building. Again, I have about 50 cameras made and ready to walk out the door. I have rectangular tins as well as many circular ones. I am hoping to get some of the cameras back from last year at this time. I will also have 10 large prints of my pinhole landscapes called Innards. These images are printed just for the Open Studio and will be offered at a special price: one day only sale!
Please drop by and see the great art that is made in this building and see all the Pinhole Images that have been made recently by myself and others here. Pick up a pinhole camera and be a part of the Project. The image below was made on color negative film in a four inch by five inch Leonardo pinhole camera. I have also posted the card for the Open Studios below too. Hope to see you there.
White Water Creek, Oregon
Bainbridge High School Images from Fall 2016 Uploaded
I have spent the last few days uploading approximately 180 images made by the students in Bainbridge High School's photography program this last fall. They made a wonderful variety of images, most in regular small metal cans but some did round tins and two hole tins. I love the variety and color that they managed to get. My goal now is to collect a few months worth of images at a time and get them uploaded. Check out this gallery on the Gallery Page. It is a good one! Here are a few of my favorites.
Image by Isabel Thompson
Two hole camera image by Mara Grace Smith
Image by Mikka Krause
Image by Dustin Grogger: he got some awesome orange squigglies!
The Biggest News Around Here
This image by Brenda Agular was sited in a public place and survived under a bench looking up at a building in downtown Seattle. Exposure about six weeks.
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