a new year....and a black Sun

Happy New year!
The year of the Horse has arrived and to tell you the truth, I kind of like having a New Year at the end of January more than I like the one on January 1st.  The January 1st one is just too soon after Christmas for me to really appreciate it.  That may seem weird, but hey, I like things a little slowed down.

On offer today is a pinhole made with a newly acquired tea tin.  The tin is round and has a diameter of about 2 3/4 inches.  A 4 x 5 or a 5 x 7 sheet of film fit inside nicely.

This photo was made on a 5 x 7 sheet of Harman Direct Positive paper and then marinated in caffenol for about 7 minutes.  It's funky, and I like the solar flare and I really like the Black Sun!

Here it is!

Here's the latest view of the 4 x 5 pinhole camera I've been working on.  It needs some paint, or a coat or two of polyurethane, but it's usable and it shoots pretty well.

Here's a test shot out of this box.  It's f/219 and shoots wide, about 110 degrees worth of wideness.  I like it!

a few days of rest and a cold snap

It's been a few days since I updated the progress on the pinhole camera construction so I just wanted to let you all know it's been on hold a few days.

I've just been busy doing other stuff and trying to stay warm during this recent little cold snap we had.   My workshop is not heated so it's not much fun to work with power tools that are cold and a little cranky.

Anyway, as soon as it warms up again, which should be this weekend, I'll get back to work on the camera and share what's going on.

Thanks for the visits and comments.
Have a great weekend! Hope it's warm and sunny wherever you are.

Day 2

If you just go by the few photos I'm posting today, it seems like not much forward progress is happening.

There's more gluing and more clamping going on since I'm making the rails that support the film holder inside the pinhole box.

It's also all about the holes for the camera too.  Here's a shot of the backside of the front of the camera and the small piece of brass shimstock I hand drilled a pinhole in last night.

I'm probably done for the day because there's a football game on and I gotta go root for the Broncos.

Thanks for stopping by and I'll see ya tomorrow!

Let's build another pinhole camera!

Yep!
It is warm here, a balmy 50 F and I've had the itch to make some sawdust.
Spring-like weather does that to a person.  We get all antsy to work in the yard and tidy up what Winter has wrought.

My yard won't be ready to do anything with until sometime in late March, so out to the workshop I went and rustled up some old boards to make a camera.

From the beginning...
I found this old piece of plywood that looked like it wanted to be a pinhole camera.   This is exterior grade plywood, so it is a bit rough and has a few knots...but since it is an old salvaged piece, it doesn't have a lot of voids in it and luckily, it is square which makes doing cuts on the table saw super easy!

Something to go by...
I build every camera from scratch and don't use a pattern, I just use a 4 x 5 film holder and build the pinhole box around it.  This may be the hard way or the most time consuming way, but it works out for me and my style of building.  I measure a lot and cut a little.

So far so good...
After about 45 minutes of measuring and sizing things up, I've got something that is beginning to look like it might  be a pinhole box.  Yay!

Time for some glue...
This is the part I dread, mainly because it's the most time consuming.  I'm using the table saw's fence as part of my glue-up system because I know it has a very straight edge.  This really helps me line things up to make nice and pretty glue joints.  Sure I could be messy and sand the mistakes off, but I'm not that kind of builder.

Oh, and you'll notice I have already installed the tripod socket in the bottom of the box.  I use brass sockets. They cost more, but I like the way they look....even if I'm putting them in old vintage wood.

Another view...

I built the other little yellow pinhole box last year so I was overdue to make some sawdust.

To be continued.....

p.s.  I still have all my fingers!

The Walkaround Pond

When I visited Moab late last year I camped near this pond for 2 weeks.  It was nice to have a watery place to walk around and explore every morning and watch steam drift up off the water in the cold morning air.  Birds would be fishing along the frosty shoreline.

I wish I had a pond like this in my yard at home so I could sit nearby and watch the wildlife visit...and let me tell you, I'd have wildlife visiting because there's nothing watery around these parts for miles!

It's too dry here and having a pond would be a major undertaking, but I am thinking of building a small koi sized pond this summer.  It's just too relaxing to not have one....

The is a pinhole photo made with my converted Holga.

As you can see, I've been dinking around with the design and look of this blog...it may go through a few more changes before I'm happy with the way it looks, but it was time for a change...I hope you like it!

Got Rhythm?

This is probably why I like pinhole so much...it slows me down, it makes me think at a meditative pace and it makes me feel at ease.

Breathe. It gives me rhythm.

When I made this pinhole image in Utah a few weeks ago, I wasn't even thinking of slowing down.  I just live that kind of life now.  Slower, easier, simpler....

I walked around this little pond every morning in the cold for 2 weeks.  Studying, observing and watching the birds that would come to fish along the frosty edge.

The morning I made this photo there was a Great Heron at the pond staring at the water, fishing, then looking at me getting in my rhythm of making a photo.

I like this one.  I like it a lot actually. I hope you do too!

Be healthy everyone.  Slow down and breathe a little!

it's the Year of the Horse

...well not officially until January 31 when the Chinese New Year begins, and then it's the Year of the Horse!

This bodes well for a blog named "Palomino Pinhole"!  Don't you think?

I've been in love with horses since before I could walk.  My grandfather had Quarter Horses and briefly raced one at a dirt track in Crosby, Texas.

If I could go back in time, I would take my camera and make photos of that place, which is long, long gone. It's a pity too because I have vivid memories of it, the smell, the dust and the people leaning against the old wooden rail fence as the horses ran by.

The horse my grandfather raced was named "Trusty" and she was a beauty.  After her racing days were done, I used to ride her around my grand parents farm in East Texas.  They had 101 acres of lush pasture for their dairy cows and I was free to ride anywhere I liked as long as there was no cow chasing going on.
Ah, those were the days...

Anyway, enough nostalgia.  Let's get on to the pinhole photo...

Today's offering is of the road that goes into Monument Valley.  I love this view...it's iconic and I never tire of seeing it or especially being here looking down upon the mittens in the distance.  No, it doesn't have anything to do with horses, but I'm sure horses played a big role in the life of the Navajo that live out here before motorized vehicles came long.

Holga converted to pinhole.

2014

Yes, it's been a while...
I've been pinholing, but with the holidays and all, I got a little behind posting, so here goes...
This one is " A Few Seconds of Solstice"  made with a 4 x 5 pinhole camera and some expired Fuji instant film on the first day of Winter.

I know that you're not supposed to aim your camera at the Sun, but since pinhole is lensless...what the heck.

I think this one turned out okay.  I like the flare and the funky color patterns it makes.

Happy New Year and hope 2014 in amazing!