Sun, silence all around. No, no one around.

This was taken at Bridal Veil falls in the Columbia Gorge, Oregon. This isn't the falls, just the creek that leads from the falls to the Columbia River. 

Also: this is another photo named by randomly choosing lyrics from the first song that plays on my iTunes. I am kind of having fun with this. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. This time it worked! The lyrics fit the scene perfectly. The song is one that I hadn't heard before, or if I had I don't remember it. It's called "Toe cutter/thumb buster" and it by a band called Thee Oh Sees. I know nothing about them except for this song, which is great. I have it on repeat in my "Current Faves" playlist. 

Camera: Zero 2000
Exposure time: 25 seconds
Film: Kodak Ektar 100
Pinhole: 0.18mm
Focal Length: 25mm
ISO: 100
Aperture: f138
Dev: C-41 by Lab
Scan: Epson V500

I'm feeling rough I'm feeling raw I'm in the prime of my life.

Oaks Park, Portland Oregon.

Having not had my coffee yet, I chose the photo title by choosing the first line of the first song that played on iTunes when I uploaded the photo. It was MGMT's Time To Pretend.

Today is my birthday and these lyrics are perfect. 

Camera: Zero 2000
Exposure time: 2 minutes 26 seconds
Film: Kodak Ektar 100
Pinhole: 0.18mm
Focal Length: 25mm
ISO: 100
Aperture: f138
Dev: C-41 by Lab
Scan: Epson V500

The truth is behind the kale and yogurt

A few weeks ago someone on Facebook (I can't remember who it was now) linked to a tweet from someone else I can't remember. What I do remember is the tweet. It said (something like) "Checking Facebook has become the equivalent of opening the refrigerator and not finding what you are looking for."  I love that metaphor. Have you ever done this? Opened the refrigerator and stared into it and not finding that one thing that will make you happy? Isn't life like this sometimes? 

So this refrigerator metaphor had been on my mind for a few days when I decided to do a pinhole interpretation of it. Yes, I stood there with the door open for more than 8 minutes. I felt kinda bad about that. But it was for art. 

Camera: Zero 2000
Exposure time: 8 minutes 24 seconds
Film: Kodak Ektar 100
Pinhole: 0.18mm
Focal Length: 25mm
ISO: 100
Aperture: f138
Dev: C-41 by Lab
Scan: Epson V500

Sanctuary

It has been awhile since I've posted on this blog! It is because I have been waiting for film to process. I've been shooting a lot of pinhole lately and I prefer color film when I shoot pinhole so that means relying on the lab to process it when I can get there. I like to save up a few rolls to justify driving into Portland to the lab. 

When I got these rolls back I was particularly happy with how sharp they were! One thing I did differently was using my finger as the shutter, as suggested by the folks at Zero Image. I opened my shutter and very quickly placed my finger over the hole then removed my finger, exposed the image, then replaced my finger and closed the shutter. I do this with my holga pinhole as well, except I use the lens cap instead of my finger. I notice a marked difference in sharpness!

This was taken at Bridal Veil Falls in the Columbia Gorge, Oregon. 

Camera: Zero 2000
Exposure time: 20seconds
Film: Kodak Ektar 100
Pinhole: 0.18mm
Focal Length: 25mm
ISO: 100
Aperture: f138
Dev: C-41 by Lab
Scan: Epson V500

15

Taken on a foggy day at Mt Tabor in Portland Oregon. You could barely see the reservoir. Here is another image taken at the same time with an SLR. I kind of like whatever is going on with the numbers here. I am not sure what happened. The film was expired. It was a happy accident. 

Camera: Zero 2000
Exposure time:15 seconds
Film: Fuji Velvia 50
Pinhole: 0.18mm
Focal Length: 25mm
ISO: 50
Aperture: f138
Dev: C-41 by Lab x-proed
Scan: Epson V500

A familiar place

View fullsize

This was taken at one of my favorite places, Wildwood Park in Welches, Oregon. I love the solitude that I find here.  

Camera: Holga WPC
Exposure time: 23 seconds
Film: Kodak Ektar 100
Pinhole: 0.3mm
Focal Length: 40mm
ISO: 100
Aperture: f135
Dev: C-41 by lab
Scan: Epson V500

My first pinhole photo

Yesterday I learned that some of my pinhole photography friends started a podcast! It's called The Pinhole Podcast and you can listen here. I listened to the whole thing this morning and really enjoyed it. I know  these guys from the online world so it was fantastic to put voices to the names. I learned lots, just from this first podcast and it had me thinking about my own pinhole photography - something I will probably blather on about in later posts after my thoughts have percolated for a bit.

As a way of introduction, they discussed how they got started in pinhole photography. This discussion inspired me to post my first pinhole photo, which you can see above. It is a photo of the park near my house. i shoot this scene quite often with many different cameras. 

The pinhole camera  I used was a cardboard box that I made myself from a kit.

I came to pinhole photography the same way I come to many other things in my life - procrastination. It started with a seed planted 7 years ago. My Spokane Flickr friend, Nick, was shooting pinhole way back in the olden days of digital photography. I remember seeing a photo he took at Glacier Park and I was completely blown away. It looked like something out of a dream. I was so immersed in digital photography I didn't really know what to with pinhole so I filed it away in my brain. That seed sat there for years and years and years. 4 years ago my husband bought me a pinhole camera kit for valentines day and I remembered this little seed. I read the instructions over and over again and was overwhelmed by them so I put the box in the closet where it sat for three years. Then the time came. I took the box out last April and I put the cardboard camera together and I took the camera out for a spin. I found out later that World Pinhole Photography Day was two weeks later! So I took it out for a spin again. Unfortunately the Oregon Rain was too much for it and it pretty much dissolved after two outings. 

The rest is history! I took a class in June and I haven't been able to stop thinking about pinhole ever since. 

That's my pinhole story. 

Welcome to Narnia

I went for a very foggy walk on Mt. Tabor in Portland last Monday and had lots of fun with my cameras! Here is one of my shots. I also brought along my new Canon EOS Elan ii. I am running a roll of black and white film through it to make sure it is working properly. I really can’t wait to see the results of those photos as well.

This photo, delightfully, has made Explore on Flickr. The last I checked it was #75. I know. I am a dork. It’s a nice ego boost. What can I say. It’s also nice that something other than over processed HDR makes it into Flickr Explore once in awhile. Power to the Pinhole!

Camera: Zero 2000
Exposure time: 1 minute 15 seconds
Film: Fuji Velvia 50
Pinhole: 0.18mm
Focal Length: 25mm
ISO: 50
Aperture: f138
Dev: C-41 by Lab x-proed
Scan: Epson V500

LenZLess

Several months ago I took a chance on my photography and entered some of it into the Plates to Pixels LenZless exhibition. I found out a month ago that one of my photos was selected! The photo that you see above. I took this photo the weekend after my first pinhole photography class with the Holga PC I received as part of the class.

You can find the rest of the exhibition here. There is some AMAZING work here and I am so completely humbled and honored to be included here with them.

If you would like to purchase a catalog of the exhibition you can find it at the Diffusion Store. When you buy one of these you are supporting art and in return you will receive good karma.

Camera: Holga 120 PC
Film: Kodak Portra 400
Pinhole: 0.25mm
Focal Length: 48mm
ISO: 400
Aperture: f192
Exposure: 2 minutes
Dev: C-41 by Lab
Scan:Epson V500

The little creek at the park

My iphone died due to the cold so I had to guess as to the exposure. I think this was a minute? I think it is a bit underexposed.

Camera: Holga WPC
Exposure time: 1 minute
Film: Kodak Tmax 100
Pinhole: 0.3mm
Focal Length: 40mm
ISO: 100
Aperture: f135
Dev: D-76 by me
Scan: Epson V500

The Little Red Shed

A breeze blew through while I was exposing this and I thanked the Pinhole Gods.

Camera: Zero 2000
Exposure time: 5 seconds
Film: Kodak Ektar 100
Pinhole: 0.18mm
Focal Length: 25mm
ISO: 100
Aperture: f138
Dev: C-41 by Lab
Scan: Epson V500

Cross processed pinhole

Exposure time: 16 seconds.

Yesterday, during a brief Facebook discussion on a friend’s status, I was pointed to this tip on scanning cross processed negatives by Herschel from Squarepegpinhole.com. I immediately needed to try it out on some x-proed pinhole shots I took last fall that I wasn’t super thrilled with.

The tip: scan cross processed slide film as positive and then invert in your photo processing software. I have Lightroom which is a bit tricky. A bit of Googling helped meand I was able to do this in Lightroom quite easily.

This was a shot that I wasn’t happy with originally. It was very over exposed and way too contrasty. I couldn’t even make out what it was, actually. I am pleased with how this came out! I am still not convinced that cross processing is the be all and end all, but it is fun to play with now and then.

Camera: Zero 2000
Exposure time: 16 seconds
Film: Mystery Fuji slide film
Pinhole: 0.18mm
Focal Length: 25mm
ISO: 100
Aperture: f138
Dev: C-41 by Lab – cross processed
Scan:Epson V500 – scanned as positive and inverted in Lightroom

Coffeeshop

I finally bought a Holga WPC after wanting one for a long time. I have loved the results of the wider format pinhole shots I've seen and have been wanting to try it. The Holga is an inexpensive camera and a nice entry into this format. Normally I favor color pinhole shots but I think I love the wide angle in black and white. The wide angle has a very cinematic feel to it and black and white film lends itself well to that aspect. 

Camera: Holga WPC
Exposure time: 1 minute 41 seconds
Film: Kodak Tmax 100
Pinhole: 0.3mm
Focal Length: 40mm
ISO: 100
Aperture: f135
Dev: D-76 by me
Scan: Epson V500

"Sorrow drips through your heart through a pinhole..."

Those Death Cab lyrics have nothing to do with this post at all, but since I am on a DCFC kick and have been listening to their music lately and I love that song and it uses the metaphor of a pinhole... well. Why not?

View fullsize

I visited The Grotto again a couple of weekends ago! It happens to be an Atlas Obscura location so I brought my pinhole camera and had some fun.

I mentioned that I am fascinated with the way pinhole photography renders people and crowds and I am continuing to experiment with this. I am especially interested in self portraits using a pinhole camera. Since the exposures are so long I can insert myself for an extended period of time into the photo and then I become a ghost in the photo. The photo above is an example. Here are a couple more:

It is all very fun to see the expressions on the faces of the passers-by when they see a wooden box on a tripod and it's owner doing something in front of this wooden box. I don't think they know what to make of it at all. Most of them ask about the wooden box and I am always enthusiastic about telling them about it but they get bored and their eyes glaze over when I mention the word "aperture."

You can see a couple non-self portrait photos from this excursion on Pinhole Obscura.

And here is the video for the song "Marching Bands of Manhattan," which is completely bizarre. As music videos tend to be.

A Carnival is setting up outside my window

A carnival is setting up outside my window on a hot summer day. The purple, blue, orange, red flag that entice people to buy elephant ears flap gently in the wind and are beautifully back-dropped by the blue sky. The road is blocked off. they have taken over the empty lot next door  and the street. People have to drive through the library's parking lot to reach their destination. I wonder what kind of excitement I will meet in the coming days.

A man comes into the library, asks for poetry. Shel Silverstein. He says he is a poet. He has a seat at the table next to mine and recites to me a poem that he wrote to a friend in her yearbook. It’s a terrible poem and I am annoyed by it. I have things to do. He then talks about the carnival. he works at it, works one of the games. He tells me how the carnival is fleecing the people in the town in which I live. He tripled the price of a light saber simply by turning it on at night, he says. He pulled stuff out of the garbage and made a necklace with it and people bought it, he says. we are basically selling people garbage he says. He recites another poem to me and, again, it is terrible. terrible rhymes and metaphors. but I am thinking about this man’s life and how it could be a poem. He tells me, “they took my brain out of my head when I was sixteen.”

Three days later as I was driving across town I saw that they were packing up and the convoy of brightly colored trucks was on it’s way out of town. Off to fleece other people I guess.

Pinholing at the beach

I am completely and totally obsessed.  It is all I think about.  What I can pinhole next? It has become a sickness. Should I get help? Or should I just continue on down this merry path and see where it takes me? Here are some favorite pinholed moments from our visit to the beach a few weeks ago.

There is more over here on Flickr.

I just received notice that my Zero Image has shipped. Stay tuned as I sink deeper into this madness.

Pinhole Photography Class

I took a pinhole photography class this past Sunday! It was FUN. It was taught by Zeb Andrews who does amazing work. I learned so much. Part of the class was spent in the classroom where he went over the technical aspects of pinhole cameras. We also looked at some examples of some of the things you can do with this type of photography. Then we went out on the town and snapped away.

It was really cool to have Zeb there to help out with little things. I feel like my knowledge on this subject grew exponentially in one afternoon, just by having been with an expert in the field for a few hours. Interesting how that happens. It makes me realize that photography is something I need to get out there and do with other people more often. I miss all of the learning that happens when you shoot with others.

We were provided with a Holga Pinhole camera and two rolls of Ektar 100 film. Here are my favorites.

A couple  of the things that I am completely fascinated with:

1. These cameras have insane depth of field. There is only one aperture setting on this camera: f/192. Yes, that is correct. f/192. Most cameras only go up to f/22. Since everything in the shot is in focus, you are able to take advantage of every single detail in the frame. I could go nuts with this.
2. Since the aperture is so tiny you have to have longer exposures to let the light in. This allows for really incredible motion blur in broad daylight. In the photo at the top of this post I set my camera down on the ground so I could get a shot of the bridge and the river. As I started my exposure a crowd of people marched by and created this crazy wave of ghostly apparitions. I didn't expect this at all (because I can't control what people do). That's part of the fun of this. Since the exposures are longer you can't really control what goes on during the exposure and the result is unexpected. People move around and the faster they move the more transparent they become. This is another thing I want to play around with more.
3. Pinhole photography is, essentially, an in-depth study in exposure. The only thing you have control over is exposure time. Everything is in focus so you don't have to worry about that. There is no aperture to control. It is completely and totally about exposure time. I like this. I like how it forces you to really focus in on this one aspect.

I am taking my camera with me to the beach this weekend. I can't wait to see what this camera does to the ocean waves!