Month: December 2006

Curtains for The Pinhole Journal

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Gregg Kemp of Pinhole Visions writes:

My copy of the Pinhole Journal arrived this week. I’ve always enjoyed sitting down and taking my time with the Journal. But this issue is special in several ways. Not only are there fresh new images of what people have done with the simple pinhole camera, but this is of course the final issue of the 22 year run of this publication. Volume 22, number 3, and that’s all folks!

A lot of people will miss getting their copies of the Journal in the mail…

Copies are still available, continue reading for details.

Homemade sliding mount for stereo photography

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f295 member MarkB has instructions for making a sweet-looking sliding bar mount for stereo/3D photography. He writes:

The slide bar allows you to take 2 sequential, side-by-side photos of the same scene, rather than simultaneously exposing 2 images.

This took 2 or 3 hours to put together. Mainly I’ll just show photos below with a few tips, rather than step-by-step instructions. It’s pretty easy and self-explanatory.

Total cost to me was about $2 for a package of threaded inserts. I had all the other materials on hand (scraps from earlier projects). If you had to buy all the materials you could still do it for under $10…

Check it out in the f295 DIY Photography Forum, includes photos

Kapiti Coast land and seascapes show, Waekanae, Aotearoa/NZ

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Colour of Rain by indiginz

Kiwi photographer indiginz has a show that’s just opened at Mahara Gallery in Waekanae, Aotearoa/New Zealand. He writes, "…I have 14 photos on exhibition. This is one of them. The theme is land and seascapes from the Kapiti Coast (where i live) up to Taranaki areas…"

I’ve been following his work for several years, first on fotolog and then on Flickr, and it just rocks the most. While NZ is a shockingly beautiful place where it’s difficult to make a really horrendous photo, he seems to somehow cooperate with the landscape to bring out its best, in accord with his own experience of it—and it does feel more like a shared experience than a vision. If you’re on the North Island, don’t miss it!

Mahara Gallery, Mahara Place, Waikanae

maharagallery@paradise.net.nz
Telephone: (04) 902-6242

10am – 4pm Monday to Saturday
1pm – 4pm Sunday

(Gallery info lifted from the Kapiti Coast Arts Guide)

Experiment: pinhole camera toss

Nicolai Grossman 4 Comments

Pinhole camera toss (atomic)

I think the camera toss phenomenon, started by Ryan Gallagher (also see his Flickr stream), is really cool. The idea is that you set your camera for a relatively long exposure in a dark place with a nifty arrangement of lights, and throw the camera in the air while the shutter is open. The results can be jaw-dropping.

I decided to give it a go while I was out shooting pinholes the other day. At f/235, I figured I’d better do it outdoors in bright sun to have any chance of getting anything on film. As it turns out, the sun was the only thing that actually turned up. This is on Fuji Astia 100F cross-processed in C-41, shot at about ISO 25, with multiple tosses in the air per exposure.

I may use this one for holiday cards this year (if I send any), as I think it looks a bit like a wrapped present:

Pinhole camera toss (gift)

Also check out the first known pinhole toss photos ever, by Alan Cooper aka alspix, using his famous matchbox pinhole camera: photo 1, photo 2.

See also: Ryan Gallagher’s blog post about these and alspix’ photos, Tarja Trygg’s pinhole solargraphy project (which I thought I posted about before but apparently didn’t… check it out, it’s really, really cool)

Michael McCarthy landscape pinhole show, Paris, FR

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Michael McCarthy will be exhibiting a collection of pinhole photographs entitled "from below" [preview at the artist’s site] in the Combes Gallery at the American University in Paris from January 18 through February 6, 2007. Selections from this project can be seen at Michael’s website, listed below.

"My photographic work has always been interested in issues of perception, analyzing the way we look at and see the world around us. Recently, this has led me to work with pinhole cameras. These lensless cameras which require exposure times ranging from several seconds to several minutes lead to a transformation of the known world around us into something which seems at once familiar and foreign…"

Continue reading at Pinhole Visions

Pinhole cameras seem to end up on the ground far too often, but you can tell that McCarthy did it on purpose, not just because he couldn’t find anyplace else to put the camera. This really is a beautiful series of landscapes from an unusual perspective and I wish I could see the real show. Rawk.

GONZO: Real and online exhibition of Hunter S. Thompson’s photography

Nicolai Grossman 2 Comments

The title says it all. The show runs 2 Dec, 2006 – 30 Jan, 2007 at M+B Gallery, 612 North Almont Drive, Los Angeles, CA, US, Tue–Sat, 10am – 5pm.

You can also see some of the displayed work on the M+B Web site.

Here’s the gallery’s press release:

M+B gallery and AMMO Books are pleased to present GONZO, the debut exhibition of photography by famed American author Hunter S. Thompson. The exhibition coincides with the release of Thompson’s final book, of the same name, and chronicles his life through his own photographs and memorabilia.

GONZO began as a personal collaboration with Thompson prior to his untimely death, and has since come to completion with the support of his family and estate. The show will feature many never before seen photographs from Thompson’s personal archive, including shots from his early days as a foreign correspondent in Puerto Rico, living in Big Sur in the 1960s, time on the road with the Hell’s Angels, illuminating self-portraits, and many personal moments with friends and family throughout the years.

GONZO is a visual tour de force that will take you on an incredible journey through the life and times of the legendary writer Hunter S. Thompson. The iconoclastic American author developed his own style of writing that became known as "gonzo journalism"-a completely truthful, but not always factual, hands on method of reporting. With his numerous articles for Rolling Stone and other magazines, his acclaimed books including Hell’s Angels, The Rum Diary, Curse of Lono and the seminal Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Thompson influenced generations and established himself as an original and powerful voice in the political and literary world.

Immortalized on film by good friends Johnny Depp (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, 1998) and Bill Murray (Where the Buffalo Roam, 1980), Hunter became a cult hero to counter-culture youth, intellectuals and celebrities alike. Notoriously fond of firearms and hallucinogens, Thompson lived in his self-described "heavily fortified compound" in Woody Creek, Colorado. One of his most famous quotes summed up his anarchist and acerbic philosophy on life, "I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence or insanity to anyone, but they’ve always worked for me."

Thanks to Jonathan at Plaid Jello for the heads-up!

Holy shit! I found a Pinkham & Smith Series IV!

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Fucking hell! After over a year of searching, I finally found a Pinkham & Smith Visual Quality No. 2 Series IV soft focus lens! This was a revered pictorial lens and the inspiration for the Cooke PS945. I think it’ll be perfect for a portrait series I’ve been planning. I’ll have to get the shutter serviced, but I can’t wait to get my hands on this thing!

Expect sample shots soon. I’ve been meaning to rent the Cooke for a test drive anyway, so I’ll see if I can get some comparison images together (something I’ve been wanting to see but haven’t found).