The allure of photographing other worlds

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. 

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. 

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? 

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.

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.

Infrared film, pinhole camera selfie. Two heads are better than one.

My favorite photography magazine

I recently received my copy of Diffusion Magazine - a photo of the Zymoglyphic Mermaid was included in the Group Showcase section, page 67. This is my favorite photo magazine - it's an annual and worth waiting for. This issue is packed with 94 pages of great photos. They include all kinds of alternative processes, also some "straight" photography and some digital mixed with other stuff - it's amazing what people are up to.

Pinhole Day is coming - do you have a camera?

This is one of my matchbox pinhole cameras. It takes 35mm film and is very easy to build and use. alspix has a great tutorial. Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day is April 29th this year. You still have plenty of time to prepare. There is lots of interesting info on Without Lenses, including a great video by Nancy Breslin about pinhole photography. The Populist, designed by Nick Dvoracek, is another pinhole camera that takes 35mm film. If you have access to a darkroom, you could make Stewart Woodruff's oatmeal box pinhole camera that takes light-sensitive photo paper. Here's another camera that takes light-sensitive photo paper, and probably took me 20 minutes to make. Here's a part of my pinhole camera collection. This photo is on Camera-wiki's homemade pinhole camera page. Here's my entry for last year's WPPD. Taken with Tyrannosaurus photo ventris.

The Zymoglyphic Mermaid, pinhole photo, taken with my handmade Zymo 127 pinhole camera, will be in the Statewide Photography Competition and Exhibition at the Triton Museum of Art in Santa Clara, CA. The show is up from February 18 to April 22, 2012. The artist's reception is February 24, 7 to 9 pm. You can see more photos in this series here.

Play with pinhole cameras

Two of my photos, appear in "Play! Toy Camera Photographers for Tots: A Collection of Sixty-three Toy Camera Photographs Made by Thirty-six Photographers in Twelve- Countries" published by CWIPress, edited by Jody Shipka with Nic Nichols. They are "In my Dream the Boy and I are Chased across the beach by a huge dinosaur," taken with Oneiro and "Photo of the Late Cretaceous by Tyrannosaurus Photo Ventris" taken with Tyrannosaurus photo ventris. They appear on pages 66 and 67. You can see a preview of the entire book (possibly only for a short time), and purchase a copy at the link above. At some point there may be a download option available - when font issues get resolved.

This is the first time one of my photos has been published on it's own. Before this the cameras seemed to be an integral part of the project, and I wasn't sure the photos could stand on their own. I am pleased about the whole thing.

Incorrect dinosaur

I'm working on a sketchbook for the 2012 Sketchbook Project. In part I'm using photos of my plastic dinosaurs, so I'm also having some fun taking quickie digital shots. I love this plastic dinosaur - he's so uncorrect yet so amusing. He's got this great all-over texture, plus some warty bumps. His pose is stiff, his tail drags on the ground. But he's my favorite.

Progress on Spirits Under Glass, the Jam is approaching

Above I'm working on the pages for Spirits Under Glass, the one-of=a-kind artist's book that will hold the photos from my Zymo 127 pinhole camera. This photo was taken last weekend, right now I'm cutting out the letters for the title in brass. Next I have to make a bezel for the glass that covers a photo that will go on the cover.

Before I forget, I want to tell you about the Jam. I will be at the Book Arts Jam on Saturday, October 15th. My table is on the left wall as you come in the main door. The Jam takes place at Foothill College, Los Altos Hills, 10 to 4. There is a $2 fee for parking - bring ones or quarters. Admission to the Jam is free. Over 50 book artists will show their work. In addition there will be an exhibit of books made by members of the Bay Area Book Artists, other exhibits, a slide show of member's work, a silent auction of book arts related items and artist's talks. I have attended most of the jams, and they never fail to delight me.

I am struggling to finish this book before the Jam. Otherwise I don't think I'll have any new work. I may bring it partially completed if I don't finish.

My next book: Spirits Under Glass

Another photo from the Zymo 127 pinhole camera. This one was taken in The Quiet Parlor of the Fishes, which resides in our living room. Not many people see the QPOTF in person.

In my previous blog post I showed you the Zymo 127 pinhole camera I've been using to take photos in the Zymoglyphic Museum. I could keep taking photos, but I also want to wrap this up and go on to another project. Now it's time to make a one-of-a-kind book to hold the best photos. So far I have some prepared pages, the photos and a title: "Spirits Under Glass."

My title for the book is inspired by this blog post Jim did about the museum practice of displaying spiritual objects in cases. The Zymoglyphic Museum follows the same practice, gathering interesting objects that have meaning, at least to Jim, from all over the world, and sealing them up in dioramas or vitrines.


Above is a possible sequence for Spirits Under Glass. See a larger version of this photo here. I have been struggling with the sequencing of the photos this week. I alternate between moving photos around on the work table, and the computer, where I try to find other people's ideas about sequencing photos. Every time I get a sequence I like, I take a photo. Above is my best so far.

Here and here are two interesting blog posts about sequencing. Scroll down to the second post on the second link to see the sequencing info. Somewhere I have seen the opposite opinion, too. That the pairs should have subtle intuitive relationships that make people wonder about the photos and their meaning. Somehow that's not working for me. I'm hoping to have this book done by October 15, the Book Arts Jam.

Tyranno photo ventris takes photos on WPPD 2011

Tyrannosaurus photo ventris is working on a new series of photos taken in the late Cretaceous. This one was snapped on Sunday, April 24, Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day and is the official entry on the WPPD website.


Another view of the late Cretaceous. This is the first shot ever of Imperialsaurus. There are also pinhole photos from WPPD on flickr's photo pool Worldwide Pinhole Day: smooshing the space-time continuum. More of Tyranno's photos can be seen here.

Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day and Project Oyamel Fir

Above: my entry in the Me, Monarch/Oyamel Fir Project in honor of Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day, 2011.

Today is Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day. Because it is also Easter, photos taken between April 23 and May 1 will be accepted. You can upload photos to the WPPD site, or on flickr to the Worldwide Pinhole Day group. It's nice to be on the big pinhole day website, so many people all over the world participate. There are also galleries from years past. But it's a huge number of images, and they are hard to scan because there are no thumbnails. Edit: my mistake, there are thumbnails - click on "gallery" from the main page, then "exhibition April 24, 2011" then on the small "exhibition on the upper left. You see a page of thumbnails, clicking the back and forward arrows takes you to more thumbnails. It's great!


Above: photo by Arturas Meskauskas. View the invitation larger here.

In honor of WPPD the Goa Center for Alternative Photography invites you to Me, Monarch (Project Oyamel Fir)
98 artists, 24 countries
Exhibition of Self portraits taken through a Pinhole camera
Worldwide pinhole Photography Day
24th April 2011, 6.30PM
At Goa Center for Alternative Photography (Goa-CAP),
C/o Prashant Falari, House No. E2 / 268, Dongorpur (Royal Village),
Near St. Alex Church, Calangute, Goa, India,

The exhibit is also at
Ravi Photo Gallery
6-3-902/7/1/C, Dream Gate, Second Floor, Somajiguda
Hyderabad, India
April 24 to May 4, 2011. Hours: Mon - Fri 10:30 to 9:00pm
Sat and Sun 10:30 to 10:00pm

On the UNITED NATIONS INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF FOREST 2011, Project Oyamel fir is dedicated to Oyamel Fir trees which are the winter shelter for several hundred million Monarch Butterflies migrating from north and south. Relentless logging has compromised the forest canopy that once protected monarchs. A growing human population around these butterfly havens and increased demand for wood gravely threaten the survival of the over-wintering butterflies, as well as the forest environment in general.

Project Oyamel Fir is not a contest; it is an experimental initiative where pinhole Photographers, enthusiasts from all over the world are invited to send one self-portrait taken with a pinhole camera to create a large dreamy, and beautiful body of work to be exhibited as **Me, Monarch**

Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day 2010

"He was taller then." Pinhole photo taken by Memory Cam on Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day - April 25. There is a huge gallery at the web site, more of my photos in my flickr WPPD set. And more photos by everyone in the Worldwide Pinhole Day photo pool.

From the Christmas Gnomes

Christmas gnomes ttv photo. There are a few more in my flickr ttv set. If you like ttv check out the flickr group. However you celebrate the holidays, remember to enjoy the people you love, and who love you.

Book Arts Jam 2009

A few photos of my "Simple Wire Edge Binding" demo for the Book Arts Jam. Taken with a Brownie Hawkeye camera. It was also World Toy Camera Day.


Jim stood on a table to take the first two shots. The film is Tri-X, respooled onto 620 spools. Processed in D-76 in my garage.


Before the demo - looking at the samples.

A box, a hole, some photo paper - Magic!

Tyrannosaurus photoventris, ©2009, 7 x 4 x 6.5 inches. That's a lens cap/shutter on his navel. He takes pinhole photos of the late Cretaceous using paper negatives.

My two brass pinhole cameras, some of my old snapshot camera collection, my funky pinhole cameras and one of my father's cameras will be shown in the collections room of the Peninsula Art Museum until November 22nd. You can also see photos from some of the cameras. The funky pinhole and snapshot cameras are the inspiration for my brass pinhole cameras. My childhood memories of my dad's darkroom are the beginnings of my interest in photography.


A photo of the late Cretaceous, taken by Tyrannosaurus photoventris. This photo is groundbreaking in many ways. It is, of course, one of the first photos of the late Cretaceous. And it also reveals a surprising first sighting of Godzilla!


The Memorycam is the first pinhole camera I made. It uses photo paper as film and takes photos of memories.


Memory 436, taken by Memory cam.


A few of my snap shot cameras and one of my ttv contraptions. From left to right: Baby Brownie, Sabre 620, an Anscoflex with a gutter pipe contraption, Ansco Shur Shot, Traveler 120.


A photo from the Traveler 120. When I get a new camera I put film in it and rush out into our garden to try it out. This was also an experiment in creating sepia toning in Photoshop. I develop the black and white film myself, then scan it into my computer.

The show is up now, and runs through November 22nd, 2009. The opening is September 13, from 1 to 4. You may know this museum as Twin Pines. It is located at 10 Twin Pines Lane, Belmont, California 94002. Hours are Wednesday-Friday 12 - 4, Saturday, Sunday, 1 - 4.

Another take on Spirits under glass

Recently we went to the de young museum to enjoy the ethnographic collection. Jim is particularly a fan of the New Guinea works. I have come to appreciate them more and more by seeing them through his eyes. I took my Gameboy camera, and he took our "big" digital camera. Photography is allowed, but no flash or tripods.

My de Young flickr photoset is here.

Jim wrote a very thoughtful blog entry about the visit. An excerpt:

"Encased in the sleekly modern architecture of the museum we see organic figurines, made of wood, clay, stone, or feathers, once living spiritual objects, extracted from dying cultures, forever frozen in action in their vitrines."

Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day

World Wide Pinhole Photography Day is on April 26th this year. This poster will be available on the website for download.

Now is the time to make sure you have your gear together. And it doesn't have to be a film image, you could make a solargraph. There are lots of links on the WPPD site under "resources." A few more links:
Solargraphy on Flickr
Diego Lopez Calvin's beautiful solargraphs.


Memory 436 - the image I submitted to WPPD two years ago. It was made in my MemoryCam. I used a paper negative which was developed and scanned into my computer. It's semi-digital.

Am I a Gamer?

Synasthesia, (check out his photo set Abandoned Haven) on flickr, asked me "I am curious how you came about your decision to experiment with your GBC (Gameboy camera). Are you a gamer?"


Two Jennifers, taken in 1999, probably scanned from the Gameboy Color.

I am a gamer, sort of. My gaming experience goes back to Pacman on my son's computer. When I tried my nephew's Tetris on the old grey brick Gameboy, I was hooked on the Nintendo. I was happy with Tetris for years. Then I got hooked on the Zelda games. I do have a few other games, but don't play them much. There are times when complete absorption in solving puzzles is a nice distraction from the stress of life. I also like to read, knit or watch movies in the evening, so I don't think of myself as a hardcore gamer.


Jeffrey, taken in 1999, probably scanned from the Gameboy Color.

About 9 years ago I bought my first gameboy camera on ebay. They seemed expensive when they first came out, so I was pleased to find a used one. I took some photos and scanned them into my computer, but then did nothing with them. Recently I was asked to participate in an online exhibit of downloadable, assemble-it-yourself artist's books. I have been experimenting with ttv and pinhole photography, so the Gameboy seemed like a good camera to use to make a quick trial book. (The exhibit will be going online soon, I'll announce it here.)


Florence - my 92 year old mother-in-law.

The simplicity of the Gameboy photos make me focus on the big picture (pun intended - the Gameboy picture is tiny on the screen) and details are not relevant. I find it all freeing in some way. It's a camera I carry around to take quick snapshots. They doesn't have to be straight or perfect. It's a moment in my life. Sometimes it's a moment of thinking "those old chairs are actually appealing in a rustic way." Or "that ladder looks beautiful in the sun." Or that moment of tenderness you sometimes feel when you look at people you love.


Jim and Florence

Gameboy Camera Tutorial

Two chairs, taken with Japanese version of Gameboy camera.

I put a five page Gameboy camera tutorial on my website. Since then I have discovered the Japanese version of the camera. As you can see above, the images are four shades of brownish orange, not the green and blue of the American version below.


The sun creeping across the floor.


Same image in greyscale.

A walk in Central Park with my gameboy camera

Gameboy camera photos from a walk in the park on Thursday. The actual screen is 1.75 inches square. Except for the large koi, these are 200 pixels wide, about 2 inches. The camera has adjustments for brightness and contrast, and will store 30 photos. I import them into my computer by putting the gameboy on my scanner, then I increase the contrast and brightness in Photoshop.

I think these have a lot of potential for use in artist's books. You can see them larger in my flickr gameboy camera set. Of course there is a gameboy camera group on flickr.


Koi.


Koi, 400 pixels wide.


Reflections in water.


Rose garden.


Portraits do work, sometimes. Anything complicated just doesn't register on these few pixels.


And the Dalai Lama, from a t.v. program. This also shows the entire Gameboy screen.