ku # 1365 / pinhole #9 (A) ~ the final stretch

red berries ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
red berries - reworked ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen

As I move into the home stretch - the deadline for submissions is this coming Monday - of my pinhole picture making activities (for exhibition submission purposes), I am left wondering whether or not I will continue making pinhole pictures on a regular basis.

On the one hand, it's a somewhat enjoyable process and I like the visual results. On the other hand, it flies in the face of my preferred picture making M.O. of straight photography - it's straight but with a twist. And, I can help wondering if would be a distraction from my regular picture making activities.

So, who knows. The only thing I know is that, in the immediate future, I will continue making pinhole pictures until I have enough good pictures to make a 20 pinhole picture POD book. Maybe that activity will get it out of my system, picture making wise. Or not.

Update on Friday, November 6, 2015 at 03:03PM by gravitas et nugalis

Featured Comment: John Linn wrote (in part): "... And although technically speaking the pictures are "straight but with a twist" it raises the question, when does "straight" become "manipulated"? Does "manipulated" only happen in the computer or post processing?

my response: iMo, and for my straight picture making dictum, manipulation can happen at any point in the picture making process, as the picture is being made or as the resultant image is processed (or both). However, what I mean by "manipulation" is any activity performed during any part of the picture making process which is for the purpose of manipulating the reality / realness of what was in front of the lens (or in this case, the hole).

In the case of "straight" pinhole picture making, the manipulation happens as a native component of the process itself. That written, pinhole photography is by nature of its visual characteristics, a "manipulative" genre and aesthetic and therefore outside of the realm of straight photography albeit in its own version of "straight".

Re: the juried exhibit to which I am submitting pinhole images for consideration, even though it would be simple enough with the use of a host of filters / apps to attain the look of a pinhole picture, one made with a plastic lens / lens baby, et al in post picture making processing, the exhibit gallery director is interested in only the look of results attained by "straight" manipulative-process cameras, lens, etc.

Comments

[John]

The first image is quite impressive. Those red berries really pop and the range of color in the rest of the image is very satisfying too.

I certainly understand your dilemma:

>>it flies in the face of my preferred picture making M.O.

And although technically speaking the pictures are "straight but with a twist" it raises the question, when does "straight" become "manipulated"? Does "manipulated" only happen in the computer or post processing?