May 01, 2012

World Pinhole Day

In celebration of World Pinhole Day this past Sunday, I took a walk around our neighborhood with my trusty Holga WPC (Wideangle Pinhole Camera) in tow. Pinhole photography is an enjoyable challenge in that it takes photography back to its foundations. A pinhole camera is nothing more than a dark box or chamber of some sort (a camera obscura, literally) with a tiny hole in one side and light-sensitive material inside on the opposite side. And that's all you need to capture an image! As impressive as modern advances in technology are, sometimes it's refreshing to go back to the basics.


 The Holga WPC does offer a few conveniences over a bare-bones shoebox or coffee can pinhole camera: it has a shutter mechanism with a cable release and of course the advantage of being able to shoot a roll of film rather than a single image. But the concept is still wonderfully simple: dark box, pinhole, film. No viewfinder, no light meter, no camera settings at all. I enjoyed my walk and eventually decided that these flowers in my neighbors' yard would be my chosen subject. 

I've been warming up to the Holga WPC over the past few months and getting a better sense of the correct exposure times. I'll be ready to share more results soon!

April 29, 2012

Curious Camera Competition

This weekend, ArtsEye Gallery in Tucson opened the 4th Annual Curious Camera show. Curious Cameras can be vintage, pinhole, plastic, instant, or phone cameras - all nontraditional and all a heap of fun. I'm honored to have my photo "Behind Bars," taken with a Polaroid Spectra camera and Impossible Project film, featured in the show as one of 30 honorable mentions.

Behind Bars

To see the full exhibition online, please click here: Curious Camera 2012 Gallery. Thanks!

April 28, 2012

Square No. 17

Pitchers

Casertavecchia is a tiny medieval town about 45 minutes north of Naples, Italy. Its Romanesque cathedral, narrow cobblestone streets, lush green surroundings, and hearty cuisine are reminiscent of more popular tourist destinations in Tuscany and Umbria. It's a hidden gem, and I have many good memories from it... as well as these two quirky half-glazed terra cotta pitchers.

April 06, 2012

Square No. 14

Here she is again: my favorite magnolia. 

A familiar subject this week!

April 02, 2012

Foggy Morning, Infrared Style

What happens when you photograph foggy landscapes with an infrared-converted camera? 
There's only one way to find out!

 And the results are in. I ended up with a set of milky, silvery, somewhat pearlescent-looking images.

 
  The leaves on the trees are green, but they show up as a whitish gray in the infrared photos. This one stands near a road, sidewalk, and several buildings. But in the fog, you'd never know it.

 
 I love how the fog transforms the world.

 
And of course: my favorite magnolia.