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This blog is intended to showcase my pictures or those of other photographers who have moved beyond the pretty picture and for whom photography is more than entertainment - photography that aims at being true, not at being beautiful because what is true is most often beautiful..

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Entries in pinhole (10)

Thursday
Nov192015

diptych # 186 ~ congratulations to my inner photographic child

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juror's selection / "Alternative Cameras" exhibition • click to embiggen

The wait is over and the results are in (from last evening's mail):

Congratulations!

Thank you for submitting your work for PhotoPlace Gallery’s juried "Alternative Cameras" exhibition. Juror Susan Burnstine has chosen 35 photographs for the gallery exhibition, and an additional 40 photographs for display in the Online Gallery on the PhotoPlace Gallery website. It’s a wonderful collection of fine work.

We are very pleased to tell you that your work was selected for display in the Online Gallery.

Juror’s Statement:

Often perfection is a direct result of embracing imperfection. The term “happy accident” has become synonymous with wildly flawed alternative approaches including toy, pinhole and homemade photography, as they frequently rely on elements of chance and luck. But there have been some who have tamed these unpredictable, faulty beasts to yield purely poetic results by letting go of technical control and connecting with their inner photographic child. .

It was great joy to spend time with these wonderfully imperfect images and I applaud everyone who submitted. Having to narrow down a selection for the physical and online exhibits was an immense but gratifying task. In the end, the selected images seamlessly merged consistent aptitude with an element of unpredictable chance, thus creating lyrical results. I congratulate all the selected artists and sincerely thank everyone who submitted such fantastically flawed work. ~ Susan Burnstine

The juror's selections can be viewed HERE


an aside: I must admit that, after viewing the juried selections for the Alternative Cameras: Plastic to Pinhole exhibition, I feel a bit like a stranger in a strange land. Sort of like, what the hell am I doing here in this company of picture making strangers? Because, other than my long-past picture making affair with "flawed alternative approaches" and "letting go of technical control and connecting with [my] inner photographic child" - my decades long use of my SX-70 cameras and film - I have had only a passing interest in making "fantastically flawed work".

As mentioned previously, I have played around with a smattering of pinhole picture making but only as a matter of having a little picture making "fun" with no long term commitment to the process. Nevertheless. I have had, and still do, a continuing interest in viewing "crappy camera" pictures as they fall into my field of vision - meaning that I don't seek them out but instead encounter them on the basis of chance.

All of that written, I have yet to come to grips with my attraction to such pictures other than to note that I like the way "crappy" pictures look. As the exhibition juror wrote, the pictures are visually "poetic", "lyrical" and "dream-like", visual qualities which, in fact (contrary to my chosen genre of picture making - "straight" picture making), do prick my eye and sensibilities.

Perhaps, in an effort to come to grips with the genre, I have to think of alternative camera pictures not as photographs but, rather, as images made with the photographic process. Images which indeed create a "idiosyncratic and deeply personal visual landscape" but which stands in direct contrast to the medium's intrinsic and inseparable relationship to and as a cohort of the real.

I don't think it's a stretch to write that I need that bit of a dancing-on-the-head-of-a-pin rationalization - i.e. images, not photographs - to comes to terms with my like of the "crappy" pictures made with "crappy" cameras. That way I won't feel like I have betrayed and abandoned my long held picture making beliefs and M.O.
Tuesday
Nov102015

pinhole submissions ~ the waiting begins

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trees ~ Peru / Lake Champlain • Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
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4 pinhole pictures for submission • click to embiggen

To pinhole or not to pinhole, that is the question. Now that pictures for exhibit consideration are submitted, I have yet to decide whether the pursuit of the making of more pinhole pictures is in my future. I have most certainly enjoyed making these pictures and I like the results. And, it would seem, that I have arrived at a certain understanding - but as of yet not comprehensive, of what the pinhole genre is about.

First and foremost, I am, without a doubt, drawn to the look of a pinhole picture, especially pinhole pictures made in color. I can imagine many of my recent pinhole pictures printed large and mounted on the walls of my house. Based on just the visual qualities and characteristics of the thing itself (the print), they most assuredly prick my eye.

Moving beyond the mere prick of the eye, I can also write that there is a corresponding prick of my sensibilities. That is to write, intellectual and emotional sensibilities (feeling and thoughts) beyond - but obviously related to - the visual characteristics a pinhole picture.

As best as I can describe it, feelings and thoughts wise, is that the soft / ethereal visual presentation of a pinhole picture, while adequate enough to create a reasonable representation of the realness of the picture's referent, denies the viewer a quick, easy and obvious "read" of the picture's meaning. Viewing a pinhole picture is, at least to my eye and sensibilities, much like trying to interpret / understand a dream.

That is to write that there is an actuality in the picture but it resides somewhere below / behind a murky fog created by the mix of conscious and subconscious thought which leaves me wondering and pondering as I try to grasp the reality of the situation.

Is all of this / my notion of the pinhole genre (for me) an overthinking rationalization - dancing on the head of a pin(hole), so to write - which gives me reason to make more pinhole pictures? A rationalization that allows me to make pictures which stand in defiance of my long standing belief in the power of straight photography?

fyi, you may have noticed that the pinhole pictures for submission are not square (as they were first presented here on The Landscapist). They are µ4/3 full-frame pictures. The reason for that is that I have come to the realization that much of the look and feel of a pinhole picture derives from the weird color and vignetting which resides outside of the center of the picture.
Wednesday
Nov042015

pinhole # 14-15 / diptych # 178 (with pinhole # 16) ~ moving right along

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kitchen light on chair w cat ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
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straight v pinhole ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
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decaying GMC hulk ~near Keeseville, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen

OK, first things first - in my first recent pinhole entry I mis-wrote regarding the name of the juried exhibit to which I am submitting pinhole pictures for consideration. I called it a pinhole exhibit when, in fact, it is .... Alternative Cameras: Pinholes to Plastic with submission criteria as images made with any plastic, toy, pinhole or homemade camera, plastic lens on a traditional modern camera, Lensbaby, camera obscura - just about any non-traditional camera or lens, film or digital.

On a side note, I also referred to the endeavor as a "competition" whereas it is really a selection process to identify and exhibit pictures which best realize the stated criteria. I mention that because I would never submit a photo to a "competition" inasmuch as making pictures is not a competitive undertaking. I have always felt that, if I wanted to enter into a competition, I would consider taking up ballroom dancing or maybe even curling.

With all of that cleared up, I am starting to get into the pinhole picturing making frame of mind. That is to write that I am starting to "feel it". Not sure what exactly that feeling is, but it's there. So. I'm just going with that flow and looking at the results.

In noodling around on the interweb, finding and looking at pinhole pictures, one clear characteristic of the pinhole genre (which I am defying) is that an overwhelming number (the absolute majority) of pinhole picture are monochromatic - BW or some tinted version thereof. Don't know why that is, it just is. Color pinhole pictures, while not scarce, are distinctly in the minority., Consequently, I have been experimenting with the making of monochromatic pinhole pictures with the idea that I will submit some tinted monochrome and some color pictures just to cover the bases.

The other thing I am working on is to perhaps make a few pictures which are even more ethereal or "conceptual" than those which result from just the use of a pinhole "lens". The reason for this possible pursuit is to make pictures which more closely resemble those of the juror, Susan Burnstine. An act which some might consider to be outright pandering, if you will.

However, the fact is that, when I decided to pursue the making of pinhole pictures specifically for submission to this exhibit, I actually had a conceptual notion in mind. But I wanted to get my head into the pinhole picture making mechanics and conventions before pursuing that specific conceptual idea.

Therefore, I don't think that pursuing a "conceptual" idea is actually pandering since I had the thought well before I knew what the judge's pinhole proclivities are ... something which I "discovered" just this AM.
Wednesday
Nov042015

diptych # 178 / pinhole # 13 ~ 3 pictures a few feet apart

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looking at Vermont ~ Lake Champlain / Peru, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
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driftwood ~ Lake Champlain / Peru, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen

Tuesday
Nov032015

triptych #26 (pinhole) / pinhole # 11-12 ~ more tiny little hole pictures

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rusting hulk ~ near Keeseville, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
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yellow leaves ~ former AFB / Plattsburgh, NY • click to embiggen
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Pride of the Adirondacks ~ former AFB / Plattsburgh, NY • click to embiggen

As mentioned in yesterday's post, I have been making some pictures with what amounts to a pinhole lens cap mounted on a µ4/3 camera. The intended use is for submission to a juried pinhole exhibit "competition".

While I have dabbled from time to time with making pinhole pictures - usually with a 4×5 view camera and polaroid film - I have never really become fully involved with the genre. Over the years I have come across bodies of pinhole work and individual pictures which have captured my favorable attention. But, to be honest, I can't really articulate why those pictures appealed to me (or any pinhole pictures) other than to write that I like the way they look.

There is not much writing on pinhole picture making other a plethora of how-to-make a pinhole camera articles. It would seem that there aren't any photo critics who have taken up the subject in order to help define the aesthetics/ vernacular of the genre. In my search for such writing I did find this from pinhole picture maker Dave Clarridge:

What I love about pinhole photography is that it is MAGICAL. Without all the expensive gadgetry I am able to capture what I feel, more than what I see. One never knows exactly what you’re going to get with a pinhole camera until the film is developed. And what appears is something only a pinhole camera can see. It’s as though a parallel universe is opened up to us.

All of that written, what I am pursuing with my pinhole picture making, at least at this stage of involvement, is to make picture which, if nothing else, I find to be visually pleasing. Without a doubt, a primary element of "visually pleasing" in pinhole pictures is the ethereal / insubstantial nature of the pictures. A characteristic which might be likened to the appearance of a ghost or a dream.

That visual characteristic is the result of making an impression of the real as opposed to a true and accurate representation of the real. Some might label it a "poetic" impression, others might label it as simply an easy and cheap picture making effect.

In any event, at this point I am not weighing in on that subject. I'm just making pictures and seeing what happens.

Any thoughts, options or comments?

FYI, the effective aperture of my pinhole is somewhere in the neighborhood of f96-f128 which dictates an ISO of 1600 and a shutter speed of 1/2-1/4s, even in relatively bright sunlight. A tripod is nearly mandatory, although, kudos to the Oly OM-D EM-1 for its 5 axis IS which makes handholding at 1/4s a real possibility.
Monday
Nov022015

pinhole # 8-10 ~ a little tiny hole

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halloweened porch ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
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red berries ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
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sky reflection ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen

I'm making some pinhole pictures for submission to a juried pinhole picture exhibit. Using a pinhole lens on my µ4/3 cameras. More on this later.
Thursday
May192011

pinhole # 7 ~ nothing wrong with a bit of fun now and then

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A sign of things to come • click to embiggen
A few entries back Scott Hussey, aka:scotth wrote:

I'm curious how the use of the pinwide fits into your hierarchy of photographic styles.

At this point, I am making pictures with the pinwide just for the pure fun of it. Despite that picturing approach, it is possible that a coherent body of work - most likely emphasizing the near/far extreme DOF characteristics of pinhole picturing - will eventually emerge. Only time will tell.

Wednesday
May112011

pinhole # 6 ~ handlebar series # 1

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Handlebars # 1 (work-in-progress) ~ E 5th Street / 500 block - NY, NY • click to embiggen
I took a walk around the block early last evening and made a bunch of pictures on / through / around bicycle handlebars. Just about every solid upright device had bicycles chained to it.

On my way to South Jersey. More NYC pictures to post and I'll also answer a couple comments.