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| Pinhole photo taken with matchbox camera on color film. |
While working on my web site I have been looking through pinhole photos I have taken in the past. I think I am not done with pinhole photography.
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| Driveway reflection taken with matchbox pinhole camera. Wonderful distortion and light leaks. |
Pinhole photography compels me. I live in this world, which is concrete all around me. At the same time, when I allow light to pass though a tiny hole I can see another world recorded on film or a piece of light sensitive paper. Although I see only a small portion of this other world, my imagination fills in the world beyond my view. It could be very different from this existing world. And yet it is related.
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| Matchbox pinhole camera photo of Trees in Golden Gate Park. Taken near the bandstand by Judith Hoffman |
These worlds overlap, the one I am in fades and the one I imagine becomes more real. There is something compelling and alluring about seeing that view, imagining another world that is connected to the world we live in. Is it a desire to make my dreams real? A need to create a world where people I love are still alive? Or the classic artist as a god?
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| I dream we are pursued by a dinosaur. Pinhole photo taken with Oneiro handmade pinhole camera. |
Setting up a diorama to photograph on my work table suggests another world too. But in that case I form the other world from my existing materials. If I set up dinosaurs and cut-out palm trees, I can create the Late Cretaceous. If I get out Christmas lights and cut out figures, I can create a dream world.
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Some of my handmade pinhole cameras. The altoids tin and matchbox cameras will give you a sense of scale. I use either color film or black and white.
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| Infrared film, pinhole camera selfie. Two heads are better than one. |
