The ƒ/D Book of Pinhole
The ƒ/D Book of Pinhole is a collection of pinhole photos from 99 photographers which was submitted in response to a Call for Entry in July…
The ƒ/D Book of Pinhole is a collection of pinhole photos from 99 photographers which was submitted in response to a Call for Entry in July and August of 2016. The photographs were selected and accepted based on their aesthetic quality, uniqueness of execution, appropriate use of pinhole and, in some cases, demonstration of persevering through the challenges of pinhole. In their entry, photographers also noted their response to the prompt “I saw through a pinhole” — quotes from these will be featured in the book.
The photographers represent the North & South American, European, and Asian continents in geographical and aesthetic uniqueness. The photographs themselves represent executions that show the “pinhole look” in general as well as the unique ways in which pinhole works with motion and time, bent film planes, infrared, and other techniques and formats.
A Pinhole Photography Primer
The pinhole camera serves as a creative antidote to today’s pixel-perfect world. ƒ/D feels that pinhole can serve as a creative bedrock from which a photographer can build in a number of directions. Whether you are a current or aspiring pinhole practitioner, or you practice other forms of photography, there is a wealth of inspiration provided by these photos showing what can be accomplished with time and the barest equipment.
Pinhole cameras, by definition, use no lens. Instead, light is focused by a tiny hole; oftentimes it is literally a hole made with a pin. The camera relies on the property of light to travel in a straight line. The numerous rays of light from a scene are projected individually through the pinhole and onto the photo taking medium (film, photo paper, or digital sensor). Because the pinhole is tiny, often fractions of a millimeter, the f-stop of such cameras tend to be very high numbers — usually above 100. Consequently, exposure times usually range from about a second to 10 or more minutes. In addition, the tiny pinhole aperture provides almost infinite depth of field, usually extending from an inch in front of the camera to infinity.
Because of the way the light is focused by the pinhole, and the long exposure times, Pinhole Photographs have some unique properties. Details in a scene are softened compared to lensed images. Because of the long exposure times, parts of a scene that move are blurred. Between the softened details and the blurred motion, pinhole photos tend to skew towards abstract and surreal imagery. Sometimes this combination of qualities can result in unpredictably creative effects — effects that we can in some cases apply in other aspects of photography.
The book will be available for backing through January 1st, 2017 via Kickstarter.com:
Originally published at wobnebmagazine.com on November 27, 2016.