Pinhole camera process and documentation (ARTE 352 at Concordia University)

October 15, 2017

Pinhole camera process and documentation (ARTE 352 at Concordia University)

PINHOLE PHOTOGRAPHY

(You can scroll down to see the pinhole photographs I took)

WHAT IS A PINHOLE CAMERA, AND HOW DO YOU MAKE ONE?

A pinhole camera is a basic photographic device that pretty much anyone can build, if they are careful in their steps for constructing it.

The shape of the box will determine what size of photographic paper you can use and the depth of the box will determine how long you must leave it open for, in addition to the magnification that you will get. For my pinhole camera, I used a standard-sized shoebox. I started by sealing all the edges of the box, using black electrical tape (see 2nd photo). Any spot where light could potentially come in should be covered using the tape. I also added some black paper flaps that covered the back corners of the box, so as to provide extra shade. I cut a round opening on the front of the box so as to give me more space to handle the tape that covers the pinhole area when using the camera (see 1st photo). The "pinhole" is literally a tiny hole that has been punched into a thick aluminum paper. You can cut a square that frames the pinhole area, and tape your larger aluminum piece to the inside of the box with the black tape. When you are ready to use the pinhole, you lift up a black tape flap that covers the front of the pinhole and this component remains open until the end of your exposure time (see 3rd photo). I used another piece of the black tape to hold the flap open. In addition to sealing the outside and adding the flap, you need to paint the inside of the box so that there are no refractions off the material that the box is made from (see 5th photo). You want the inside of the box to be as black as possible (obviously this also implies not having any light entering the box other than through the pinhole) so that there is no distortion or affectation of the what is entering from outside. Finally, two paper flaps (made from black paper, once again) can be glued to the inside to hold your paper in place when you are shooting. If you do not have these flaps, there is a strong chance that your paper will fall over while you take your shot, or while transporting your "loaded" pinhole camera to the place where you want to take your shot. Once these variables have been handled, you will be ready to use your pinhole camera.

The pinhole, when open, allows light to enter into the box and creates a projection of what you see outside inside of the box. This projection is upside-down and reversed when it lands on the light-sensitive photographic paper that is loaded inside the box. In addition to this, the image that you get from the pinhole camera shot will be a negative, which displays the opposite light values than what you regularly see. Once you have developed your negative, you can create a "contact sheet" to get your positive image. Place your negative, face down, on another sheet of photo paper, and expose it to light for a certain amount of time (to be determined through a test sheet). All you need to do is develop your new sheet of photo paper so as to get your positive photographic print.

It takes a few trials to understand what amount of time you need to keep your pinhole open for so as to produce a good negative. This "shooting" time will also vary depending on whether you are taking your shot in full sunlight or if there is less light. I had some shots that took roughly 3 minutes, compared to others where the flap was open for roughly 11 minutes.

The infamous pinhole!

Taping any potential openings with black electrical tape (hockey tape). Use BLACK tape, as it blocks light the best!

This is the flap made from electrical tape that covers the pinhole. This doesn't have to be long, as you don't want to spend too much time opening and closing the flap when you take your shot. You can have another piece of tape to hold this piece down when it is open.

The pinhole camera, made from a shoebox. Everything edges and corner on the outside has been sealed with the tape.

Paint the inside of the box with black paint for best results!

HOW WOULD I TEACH PINHOLE PHOTOGRAPHY TO ANOTHER GROUP? WHAT KIND OF GROUP? WHAT WOULD BE THE GOAL OF SUCH A PROJECT?

Once I have figured out the math behind pinhole photography, I would be keen on teaching it to high school students, but only if the school already has a darkroom. In addition to this, classes would have to be limited in size, and include students who are passionate about photography. With today's large class sizes and classes with so many types of students with varying degrees of ability to pay attention, in addition to their desire to learn, this space would inevitable be reserved for those who want to be there. I have been debating in my own mind whether it would be worth it to start a darkroom from scratch, and although the romantic notion of a darkroom is highly appealing, I can imagine a plethora of situations where things could go wrong. Health issues developed from mishandling and exposure to chemicals, contamination of prints from less experienced or sloppy students, equipment malfunctioning or breaking, etc, etc, etc. There are many things that could go wrong, so it would have to be done in a very regimented fashion. I could see it working if:

1-there was a designated space for it that was protected (meaning that troublemakers would not be able to get in, this is something we take for granted until someone breaks in and decides to wrecks havoc on the space);

2-there was someone there who would act as a technician, so as to ensure that the materials are adequately stocked, that the equipment is maintained and that the rules for using the room are enforced;

I was reading this art education article (https://www.theartofed.com/2016/08/17/time-accept-darkroom-dead/) which made me feel torn about the whole thing. It is worth reading the reactions to the article at the bottom of the page, as there are contrasting points on view on this matter. I feel that for those who enjoy photography and want to connect with this process and technique, it would be a great experience and worth the effort. An education in analogue photography could include photograms, pinhole photography and shooting with black and white film. Learning how to make and use a pinhole camera would be beneficial to them on many levels. Firstly, the functioning of a pinhole camera is directly linked to the physics behind human eyesight and perception of light, which are things that they learn about in physics class. That is one cross-curricular link that can be explored. Secondly, it would be relevant to teach them about pinhole photography because it explains to them how a camera functions, on a more basic level. Although a longer process, pinhole photography gives learners a sense of the process that photographers used to use to create and develop photographs before the advent of manual photography and especially digital photography (although the functioning of the DSLR, at the fundamental level, is essentially the same). This process would send them back to the past, allowing them to reconnect with traditional methods. Through this process, they would look at modern digital photography through a new lens, and have more respect for what it takes to take a great photograph. In addition to the process itself, there is a creative approach to photography that can be harnessed through learning these methods. Finally, they would learn about how to be methodical in the making of their pinhole camera, in addition to the process of developing the image.

Digital photography (using DSLR cameras) can also be great, whereby students can learn a lot more about the fundamentals of photography in a shorter amount of time because they are not spending that time in the darkroom. But there is a hefty price tag attached to this, so it would be dependant on the school's budget and preferences for what techniques that it wants to teach its students.

As we move into an age where more and more teachers are prompted to use technology in the classroom, and are actively challenging their learners to use technology as a tool for learning, the cellphone, with applications like Instagram and Snapseed, can be used by all the students in a class. Some students will not be interested in investing themselves into learning the scientific and highly creative approaches towards photography that darkroom photography has to offer. Not all students will continue photography later on, so teaching them how to do it through tools that they can easily access and relate to can be rewarding for them. It is a means through which all the students (and pretty much all students have cellphones nowadays) can have access to photography. We inevitably have to choose the medium that we teach in function of the crowd that we are teaching.

I could think of many projects where pinhole photography could be used as a counterpoint to digital photography, as a means to explore specific themes and expand upon them. Learners could use pinhole photography as a starting point for developing a series about their neighbourhood, about how it changes, about things that they hadn't noticed before, etc, and modify these using digital photography techniques through scanning and manipulation on simple photo editing programs (or if budget permits, more sophisticated programs like Photoshop). The pinhole photo has a "look" and references the past, whereas the digital photograph has the ability to be whatever you want it to be, so there is a lot of creative work that can be done when exploring a theme or subject with both technologies in mind.

FINALLY, here are the four shots (urban landscape, self-portrait, landscape and still-life) that I took with my pinhole camera. You will see a cell phone photo that depicts what is being photographed, the negative created from the pinhole process that was developed in the darkroom, and the resulting positive created in the darkroom by shooting light through the negative onto another sheet of photo paper.

URBAN LANDSCAPE