Tag: Pinhole

A hangar, a pinhole and a world record: building the world’s biggest camera

Nicolai Grossman 1 Comment

Sometime in June, a team of photographers in southern California plans to transform an abandoned airplane hangar into a giant pinhole camera, expose a huge piece of light-sensitive cloth, and create what may be the world’s largest photograph.

The project is difficult and expensive, and if it succeeds, the result will be a single black-and-white image of an empty runway. So why do it?

To the six photographers involved, Jerry Burchfield, Mark Chamberlain, Jacques Garnier, Rob Johnson, Douglas McCulloh and Clayton Spada, the undertaking is part of something bigger than just a really huge picture…

Continue reading at Photo District News

Check out the official project site

Via photographer Jan Kapoor

World War II pinhole photographer dies

Nicolai Grossman Leave a comment

Terence Sumner Kirk, a former World War II prisoner of war who built a pinhole camera from cardboard scraps and used smuggled-in photo supplies to snap photographs of fellow malnourished Marines, has died. He was 89.

Risking a certain death sentence if he was caught by Japanese soldiers, Mr. Kirk built a pinhole camera from scraps of cardboard and used smuggled-in photo supplies to snap priceless photographs of prison life so the horrors could not be forgotten.

Continue reading at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Kirk wrote a book about his experience, The Secret Camera, which is available for US $30 from Owl Wise Publishing.

This is exactly why photography isn’t only good for art or family keepsakes, but can have a huge social impact. Don’t you think that Holocaust-deniers would have an easier time of it without photography? The officers who beat Rodney King? Tiananmen Square? The right to photograph and video is important!

Via Pinhole Visions

Awesome implications of ISO 24,000 film

Nicolai Grossman Leave a comment

Yesterday, I posted (well, lifted Oren Grad’s post from The Online Photographer) about an ultra high-speed ISO 24,000 B&W reversal film emulsion that Kodak have developed, but one implication didn’t hit me until today: if released commercially, it would allow handheld pinhole photography at normal shutter speeds.

An aperture of f/185 gives you a shutter speed between 1/125 and 1/250 second in about a half stop under full sun, and you’d have an even wider range of choices with zone plates or photon sieves, whose aperture equivalents are larger.

This opens up a lot of possibilities that didn’t really exist before: tripod-free shooting, flash (including fill flash), precision exposure control with normal shutters, and a whole world of candid/documentary and indoor and outdoor stop-motion photography.

While I generally like the slower shooting experience of pinhole photography, sometimes it’s just annoying, and sometimes it outright prevents me from getting the shots I want.

I’m really excited by the possibility of more creative choices. Bring it on, Kodak!

Sitzer Records’ pinhole competition

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Wow, I’ve been set back to my childhood days…ever built a pinhole camera? Check out www.sitzer-records.de > lazy comet> video pinhole camera. This homemade low budget clip is great fun. I love it! there’s a competition going on, so dump your digital camera and get analogue again! plus pinhole camera is one of my favourite tracks right now. Makes springtime mornings (afternoons and nights) the best time of year!

Build your own camera and send us the pictures until 31st July (contact address on the homepage). The first 3 places will be winning a fantastic Lazy Comet package.

Read more at Sitzer Records (Deutsch)

Via Pinhole Visions

Countdown: TOMORROW (Sun) is Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day!

Nicolai Grossman 2 Comments

Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day is only one week away! If you want to participate, make sure you’ve got a camera built or bought in time by April 30, 2006!

See pinholeday.org for more info on the event. If you’d like to convert an existing camera or build one from scratch, the f295 Pinhole Photography Forum is an excellent resource.

There’s a long list of events and workshops happening, check out the list to see if there’s one near you.

f295 launch online pinhole photography gallery

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Tom Persinger, administrator of the f295 Pinhole Photography and DIY Photography forums, writes:

f295 is pleased to present an online gallery of images from a few select members of the f295 community!

The gallery currently includes work from:

Eddie Aleo Jr.
Bruce Berrien
Joe Van Cleave
Daryl Duckworth
Nick Dvoracek
Chris Ellinger
Earl Johnson
Tom Persinger
Nick Shuval-Sergeev
Steven Taft
Ralph Young

Soon f295 will unveil a formal submission process for one to be considered to have their own space in the gallery.

The gallery may be found at f295.org/gallery

Reminder: Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day is only one week away!

Nicolai Grossman Leave a comment

Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day is only one week away! If you want to participate, make sure you’ve got a camera built or bought in time by April 30, 2006!

See pinholeday.org for more info on the event. If you’d like to convert an existing camera or build one from scratch, the f295 Pinhole Photography Forum is an excellent resource.

There’s a long list of events and workshops happening, check out the list to see if there’s one near you.