Pinhole Camera... and some nifty photos

Photography began from experimentation by Joseph Niepce in 1822. He invented what he called a heliogravure, or sun engraving. Within the next decade, several others came forward with similar inventions. There were many years spent trying to make the process of preparing the plates more user friendly; this finally occurred in 1877 when gelatin-emulsion dry plates were invented by several firms. Photography changed graphic design in a huge way. Suddenly stories were lent more authority when a photographed picture was included with the text. More accuracy and detail could be achieved, and there was less room for interpretation by the artist who would have previously been drawing for the copperplate engravings that would sometimes be included with text.

So we come to the point of trying some of it ourselves. Mmmmm... another favourite project! While I make no claims to being any kind of photographer, save for the "hobby" type, I do love to make things with my hands... especially things that can otherwise be purchased for significantly more money.

Here is a photo of my pinhole camera, made from a small matchbox, a roll of film, an empty roll of film, some cereal box, some black electricians tape and a black permanent marker. I followed the instructions at this link if you are interested in trying it yourself: www.matchboxpinhole.com
(I didn't make the "clicker" part of it, and it still worked... just 1 1/2 turns per photo when advancing the film with a house key)


And here are some of the photos I took with the camera... pretty interesting considering how MacGyver the camera was. There is a rather mystical or mysterious quality to the pictures. Next time I will pay more attention to what the composition might be. The biggest problems I found with the pinhole camera were that I either had to hold the camera steady for too long for the shot (which no matter how still I thought I was holding it, it wasn't still enough) and that I forgot that whatever I pointed the camera at would be in the picture. Its a tricky tool to use to capture a particular composition... and there is no preview screen!

This is one of my favourite photos that I took with the pinhole camera...