They say practice makes perfect.
I'm not sure who "they" are, but sometimes practice will make you crazy.
I've lately been dinking (scientific term for aimlessly experimenting) with artistamp sized pinhole shots.
They're made by hand cutting a piece of photo paper small enough to fit inside a 35mm camera. I have an old wreck of a Pentax k1000 I made a pinhole body cap for to do this.
It's a slow process because, it's load, expose, then unload, reload, expose and so on. Not a fast process, but pinhole isn't fast so it suits me.
Here are couple of samples:
This one was a bit overexposed so it solarized...this was on Harman Direct Positive paper, so what you see it what you get right out of the camera after developing. I use caffenol, so it has a slight stain to it.
Here's another one I over exposed and it kind of flipped out. I like it though. It reminds me of some kind of apocalyptic snowstorm.
this one is just a mess, but I'm putting here mainly so I can go back and retry it....
these are all small, just the size of a 35mm film frame.
anyway, a work in progress...to be continued.
the truth is, it never left!
I'm an amateur astronomer and often make photos of the night sky.
In the past, that has meant using my Pentax K1000 on a tripod to make quick snaps of interesting conjunctions of the planets with the Moon or nightscapes.
I've also made countless digital images of the Milky Way and star fields that I like to look at.
For the past few years I've been making what I call "loonies".
I hand trim a piece of Harmon Direct positive photo paper to fit in a 35mm film camera, then hold it up to the eyepiece of my telescope and make a lunar portrait.
They are each one of a kind since the Moon is an always changing dynamic body.
Harmon Direct Positive makes as you see below, a positive print. It's a favorite of pinhole photographers because it's a slow emulsion and eliminates the step of making a contact print.
Load, expose, develop, and viola, a print as you see here.
When the Moon is near full, like it was last night, the exposure is one second long.
When it is full, the exposure will be 1/2 second.
Last night I made this one.
I like it. To flatten them after drying I stick them in heavy books, and sometimes forget one, so it's a great surprise to serendipitously have one fall out in my lap when I open one of those books and find a forgotten "loonie".
Life is good.!
So here I sit going through files and files of photos on my computer and realize that the Vivitar Wide and Slim is probably my most used camera along with various pinholes, Holgas, and of course my much loved disposables.
It's a simple little plastic box, with a single speed shutter and an uber wide 22mm lens. No controls, just point, compose, click, and you are done.
I like that! The photo above was made from the passenger seat.
Many of my shots are done this way because I like the feeling of the road passing by and making occasional snaps when I get the urge.
Here's another snap made at a recent car show. For such a small piece of plastic wonder, the camera has a relatively sharp lens.
Another shot made from the passenger seat. This was one of those days I wished I'd loaded color, but black and white is my habit, and since I use home-brew caffenol to develop my films, it's likely to remain my first choice.
Occasionally I get a shot that kind of makes me shake my head because it looks like it might have been made with a better camera than a simple box with a single speed shutter and no aperture control lens.
I could go on and on and load pages of photos made with the little Vivitar, but you get the idea. It's easy to love a camera that needs no batteries and is ready at a moments notice to hit the road!
If you've spent any time at all reading this blog, then you know I love trees. I may not talk about them much, but they are an integral part of my photography.
I grew up in the piney woods of East Texas and spent countless hours walking, camping or riding horses in the woods there.
We have beautiful forests here in New Mexico, but they are currently closed due to the extreme fire danger. It's the pits because I'm overdue for a good long walk in the woods.
In the meantime, here's a pinhole photo of some trees I know back home in Texas.
Reality So Subtle Pinhole
Pan F film dunked in caffenol
It's officially Summer, even though it's felt like summer for a few weeks...meaning it's been hot.
Summer is the perfect time for pinhole, lot's of good light and strong sunlight means stark contrast, and solarized suns like above.
Photography rule books usually say to avoid noon time photography because the light is harsh, but since there are always exceptions and rules need to be broken, pinhole is just fine at noontime. Try it!
The above image was made with a Reality So Subtle pinhole camera in 6 x 6 format on some old Pan F film.
I really like this camera. It was made in France by aupremierplan on a CNC machine which I think is uber cool because it meshes a very old type of photography with an ultra modern way of making things.
It was developed in a homemade caffenol developer Delta recipe for 8 minutes.
This is the closest thing to a selfie I make... like most photographers, I don't really like being in front of the camera.
This was made at Prada, Marfa near Valentine. Texas.
This is a funky art place...it's not a walk in store.
Behind the store is a wire panel fence that passersby have put locks on.
Maybe this should just be filed under strange things seen in the desert....these were hanging on the fence on the south side of the Prada building...when I passed by here a week later they were gone.
Valentine, Texas is quite the metropolis....maybe for Roadrunners and horned lizards perhaps...not so much for people.
all photos made with a Rollei disposable camera I reloaded with Arista Premium 400 film and then sloshed about in caffenol for 8 minutes.
It's always a pleasure to come upon random art out in the middle of nowhere....
Holga Wide pinhole with Fuji Acros 100
This old cemetery on a hill in nearby Cerrillos is one I think is typical of what an old wild west cemetery should look like, It's tucked away off the main road and overlooks miles and miles of New Mexico mountains. It's a nice day trip from Albuquerque if you like this sort of thing..
