PINHOLE PHOTOGRAPHY

When I started experimenting with pinhole photography, my aim was to have end-to-end control of an analog image-making process, starting with camera design and construction to contact print making, I’ve experimented with various camera geometries and photosensitive media to create images that capture the world in a very different way from digital photography.

My cameras are constructed with a mixture of hand fabrication and rapid prototyping. The design of the cameras is raw, rudimentary, and modular to encourage reworking and modification as the end product is the image, not the artifact. My initial tests with photosensitive media were made using pre-flashed grade-four Ilford photo paper with an ISO of 8. I transitioned away from photo paper negatives on the recommendation of Corey Cannon from the Lensless Podcast and now use Fuji x-ray film in my homemade cameras. The main advantages of using x-ray film are three-fold; 1. Reduced exposure times as x-ray film has an ISO of 80, 2. X-ray film can be developed under safelight and in the same chemistry as photo paper, 3. Contact printing with x-ray film retains more detail than contact prints made using photo paper negatives. All developing and print making is done in an extremely small Manhattan bathroom.