Confessions of a pinhole obsession
By Andrew Lint
19 Jan 2009
This is what happens when I shoot Pinhole.
What I hear and what I see both equally effect how I feel about making the exposure. With every image my thought and moods change... usually more than once, and sometimes in rhythm with the light. From f16 to f5.6 the light pushes me to feel the exposure and to trust myself when to say enough! You've been here to long.
Why pinhole?
Pinhole to me is a demanding journey; demanding of my time, my energy and my thoughts. The more I shoot pinhole, the more obsessed I find myself; obsessed to the process and addicted to the construction of the camera. An addiction to exposure times, followed by my anticipation to reach the darkroom and develop the negative! Then quickly turning the negative into a positive. This is only part of the obsession.
The subject matter for me was simple. I've always enjoyed shooting landscapes. The challenge for me was to change my view away from the familiar vastness of shooting on the prairies of southern Alberta, to a liquid version. Now drawn to water like I was once drawn to warm Chinook winds, I find myself searching for a tranquil spot to call home.
In 2006 I entered the darkroom after being away for almost 10 years. I never would of thought in my wildest dreams what I was about to discover. I learned how to make B&W print's using traditional techniques. I followed Ansel Adams Zone system when I made my exposures and I always made sure to use my light meter all the time. I learned how to shoot and develop 4x5 film using an old view camera and I loved it! I was able to use the zone system to my advantage and soon had perfected my timing. My ability to capture a Black and White image with an amazing amount of tonal values along with maximum blacks with detail and highlights pushed to the point of perfection astonished me.
Perfection isn't that the point. I became obsessed with perfection; it was taking over my ability to take risks and experiment. By this point Digital photography was eliminating my desire to stay in the dark, until I was introduced to pinhole photography. Everything became a risk there was no more perfection, no more zone, no more light meter, I became the meter I was in the Zone.
I started by constructing my first camera ''Little Tin'' made from an old metal tea box, the lens from tinfoil. I would go into the darkroom and load light sensitive B&W RC papers into the tea box one at a time. When shooting I was trying to guess my exposure times always using my stopwatch and making notes studying the value of light and time. I started by implicating the Sunny 16 rule and went from there. Once I was able to get some sort of an image I had a good idea of the timing. I started by loading "Little Tin" with the light sensitive papers and sealing the top for light leaks, then I would head off into the world. By the time I would find what it was I wanted to shoot if I didn't already know, I would make the exposure, go back to the lab, develop the image and make a contact sheet took well over an hour some days.
I felt limited with "Little Tin" although very sharp and producing an appealing vignetting the negative is only 5"x7" way to small. The next project is in my mind I need to go bigger, I have a box of 16"x20" RC Agfa papers and now that Agfa is no longer producing papers. I decided to take a risk and construct a camera to hold 16"x20" RC papers that are no longer available so every shot truly becomes a one of a kind.
The "Big Can" comes from an obsession with our Environment and what we do as humans to preserve planet earth. The process for "Big Can" was much like "Little Tin". "Little Tin" is of a shallow body construction the lens is close to the film plane so it creates a wide-angle perspective. "Big Can" is constructed to be somewhere in-between a wide angle and a Tele-photo pinhole camera where the film plane is far from the lens. The "Big Can" had a weird way of distorting the image the way light past through the tinfoil lens and hit the paper plane was unique, the perspective was it's own. I calibrated the Big Cans exposures the same as Little Tin using the sunny 16 rule and starting with ten minutes. Out shooting once finally calibrated I was there for 20 plus minutes making my exposures. By the time I would return back to the lab another hour had gone by and so did the light. I spent my days chasing light it was beautiful and the work that was created wonderful a journey in time with light and nature a body of work to call my own cemented in time when digital begged me and the darkroom well the darkroom is dark.
5 responses
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Spectre Photo gave props (19 Jan 2009):
I loved this..I hope someday in the future I can give this a try!!
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Zulu gave props (19 Jan 2009):
Very nice....Love your images!
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Kelly Roper gave props (19 Jan 2009):
As a black & white film photographer this was a GREAT read! I am so happy to see a photographer that goes back to the very basics and creates art.
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JS Daniel gave props (19 Jan 2009):
This is a nice article. voted!
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Yvette Ruiz said (23 Jan 2009):
Nice! Pinhole cameras are really cool i have used it only twice at school,but i really hope to use one again.
