Reflections on Shooting Pinhole Photographs

I have been shooting pinhole photographs for over 25 years. These days, I pretty much do not shoot other types of photography. I have noticed certain moments that occur while shooting pinhole, worth sharing and not evident in other types of photography. First there is the sun trail. The light from the sun is bright! The long exposure pinhole captures the trail as it goes across the sky. If there is no trail or gaps, it means the sun did not come through the clouds that day. or it means your camera was pointed away from the sun. Sun trails tell how long you have exposed the camera. Single sun trails are not very long exposures. Thick sun trails which flow all across the sky can represent at times up to a year of exposure. Patience is a virtue in pinhole photography and leaving a camera up for a year requires a lot of patience.

Flattening of bodies of water: long exposure pinholes, over time, flatten out large bodies of water. A very rough sea can look quite calm. Over several days, the tide goes in and out and creates a large flat body of water, without a beach.

Things that sit in the same place day after day: If you look closely at some interiors you can see, for example, where a white cat has laid in a chair day after day. And curtains that are mostly shut when opened will record the bright outside light.

What I love aboutt any type of pinhole photography is that I am never quite positive about what I will get on the paper or film. There is a certain amount of guesswork and estimation and it is helpful for to be positive about the outcome.. Long exposures make the colors very vibrant and do not record any people. People simply move through the frame too quickly. That is not to say you can’t record people with the pinhole camera. You just need bright light and short exposures and this usually works best with film not paper negatives. I have shot both long exposure pinholes on paper and shorter exposures on film. Both are interesting and the shorter exposures often capture people. I scan the paper negative from the long exposure images and I scan the negatives from the film based pinhole and print both digitally. I do not do any manipulation except to enhance the contrast a bit and get rid of the dust from my scanner.

I have also used various cameras always homemade that are either film or digital based. While recently on a fellowship to Civita, an old Etruscan hilltop town in Italy I had a month to make photographs; it was dark in November and December when I was there and I photographed mostly with film but put about 30 long exposure pinhole cameras out. I shot on film everyday and I used an app, called Pinhole Assist which made my exposures about 30 seconds and was very exact. I did not want people in my images and instead felt that there were many ghosts lurking about in this 3000 year old town. I wanted to capture them and make some different images of this already over-photographed place.

Janet Neuhauser A road trip—the camera was taped to the car’s back window. With sun trails! Six week exposure.

Janet Neuhauser: A shorter exposure of the photographer and pinhole artist Jenny Riffle. Exposure was about 30 seconds on film.

Jesse Tampa, 2 hole camera set in her living room. Six month exposure. Look closely and you can see her white cat who sleeps every day under the front window.

Eric Riedel and Barry Christensen have been working with a four hole camera, each of them exposing two holes for several weeks. Images are mysterious and wonderful.