today everything exists to end in a photograph

August 19, 2020

“Today everything exists to end in a photograph.”
~ Susan Sontag

Today is World Photography Day, so I thought I’d share a little of my knowledge. My dad’s story will have to wait…

Hope you enjoy!

I know it’s hard to believe, but the photo above is a list – turned sideways – of all the important dates in photo history, dating back to the 5th Century BCE, when the first prototype of a lensless camera was made. I did this in autocad, then at the end of the semester, I transferred it to a JPEG image, so I could print it out and include it in my journal. Oh yeah, this was done for my History of Photography class I took while going to Shepherd University.

In the 10th century, BCE, the “pinhole camera is an instrument”. A pinhole camera is a simple camera, that has no lens. It is technically a light proof box with a small hole in one side. Light passes through the hole and projects the inverted image onto the photographic paper placed inside.

Pretty much anything can be used as a pinhole camera, as long as it’s hollow inside, has a hole to allow light in and is light proof. While attending Shepherd University, we had to make a pinhole camera and make photos for my alternative photography class. I used a birdhouse – not the one in the photo above. For the life of me, I cannot find it. But you get the idea…the hole in the birdhouse was smaller I do believe. We took the roof off, added little pieces of wood to the inside of the roof and drilled holes in the walls so we could use little pieces of dowel rods to reattach the roof. Place a cork in the hole, to allow no light in until ready to make a photo. And just like that, you have a pinhole camera!

It takes a lot of trial and error making a photo this way…you don’t know exactly how long to allow for exposure time. But it’s fun to do. And with practice, you will get better.

Below you will find some examples of the pinhole photos I made…

“You don’t take a photograph, you make it.” ~ Ansel Adams

“No place is boring
If you’ve had a good night’s sleep
and have a pocket full
of unexposed film.”
~ Robert Adams

Well, I only have two to show you for now. There’s more, but I need to work on them!

“Photography is the beauty of life captured.”
~ Tara Chisholm

Hope you have a great day!
Thanks for stopping by!!

“Photography is the
story I fail to put
into words.”
~ Destin Sparks

take care
stay safe
much love