FEATURED CASE STUDY:
The Pinhole Camera: A Practical How-To Book for Making Pinhole Cameras and Images
The Pinhole Camera is a practical how-to manual for making pinhole cameras and images.The techniques contained here are not difficult to master, and soon you will find yourself constructing your own cameras and making wonderful, innovative images. The content is divided into four parts, spanning fourteen comprehensive chapters.The Beginner Track, Advanced Track, and Creative Opportunities serve as an intuitive structure to the topics and techniques introduced so that both beginners and advanced artists can work at their own pace.
The Challenge:
How do you present a complete photographic workflow spanning the audiences of Complete Beginner, Amateur Tinker, and Seasoned Creative? Even in the specific niche of pinhole photography, there are many concepts to learn: camera building, darkroom processing, and the infinite creative techniques for experimental image-making. With my first book I attempted to teach through word and image, sharing my own knowledge with artists of all levels.
The Solution:
Where do you begin when writing a book? The “experts” say to start with what you know, and that’s what I did. Prior to thoughts of compiling a complete how-to instructional book, I was conducting pinhole workshops for the local Pittsburgh photographic community. I was surprised at how many people showed up to learn about this simple yet enigmatic form of art. With the success of teaching in a small learning environment, I expanded my modest thirteen-page workshop manual into a comprehensive tool to learn pinhole photography. The task of flushing out broad concepts of camera construction and building a home darkroom were difficult, but with many revisions to the manuscript a complete book began to take form. Honestly, it’s a bit like magic!
Professional Partnerships Matter
Writing a book, from scratch, is one massive project. Additionally, I was creating all example images and illustrative graphics to accompany the manuscript. Long-time creative partner, Group 2 Design, handled the book production and layout design. Hiring professionals to help shape your creative vision can be more than simple assistance, but a contributing factor to the overall success of the project. Page layout was completed in Adobe InDesign. The book was typeset in Palatino and Trade Gothic. The final book is presented as an On Demand product that is printed and fulfilled by CreateSpace.
Book Structure and Organization
Part One introduces the art form of pinhole photography, discussing the benefits and opportunities. Part Two throughly describes the pinhole process: from creating your own camera and pinhole, selecting a light-sensitive material, exposing your image, developing and evaluating negatives and finally, printing your own photographs. Part Three is the workshop section that highlights topics such as converting cameras and setting up a black and white darkroom. Part Four illustrates the community of pinhole photographers worldwide. Each featured artist shares with you one image along with their own personal pinhole philosophy. The combination of artists and selected subject mater is a wonderful testimony to the creative images achieved with pinhole photography.
Featured Pinhole Artists
Fifty artist, from all around the world, have been selected to represent the global pinhole community. Each artist was an active participant in Flickr.com and was selected for their innovation and creativity. Working with such a diverse group of people was certainly a cultural challenge, but I believe that this is a true collection of original and extraordinary artists. Many of these photographers have been a direct influence on my own pinhole experimentation. In their own words, each artist share their thoughts and philsopies about pinhole photography and image-making in today’s digital world.
What Do Critics Say?
“I highly recommend this how-to book to educators looking for innovative pinhole techniques as well as the DIY photographer. The big bonus is that because of the images throughout and the showcase section, The Pinhole Camera doubles as a photography coffee table book. Get two, one for the darkroom, and one for the cooffee table.”
~ Blue Mitchell, Editor, Diffusion magazine
“The Pinhole Camera is so much more than a pinhole book. Though the whole and simple process of pinholing is summed up on the first pages of the book, Brian Krummel manages to squeeze in just about every aspect of pinholing in this encyclopedia.”
~Malin Fabbri, Editor, AlternativePhotography.com; author of From Pinhole to Print and Blueprint to Cyanotypes
Creative Analog Photography in the Modern Digital Age?
Low-fi pinhole image-making is a soothing remedy for the fast paced, digital world of today. Technology does not make you an artist; your creativity and ingenuity shapes your path. By practicing pinhole photography, the obstacles of camera and lens will be removed and replaced by optimism and enthusiasm for your art form.
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Introduction to Pinhole Photography:
- In a Nutshell
- Signature Characteristics
- Why Shott Pinhole?
- The Modern Digital Age
- About This Book
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The Pinhole Process:
- Camera
- Pinhole
- Light-Sensitive Material
- Loading & Exposing
- Developing & Evaluating
- Printing
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Workshops:
- 35 mm Matchbox
- Retrofitting Cameras
- Pinholga
- Setting Up a Black and White Darkroom
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Featured Pinhole Artists:
- Africa, Asia, and Australasia
- Europe
- North America
- South America
Excerpt:
I get mixed reactions when I say that I am a pinhole photographer and that I create images with a tin can. Some people think that I am joking and simply laugh, while others are intrigued by the creative possibilities. They want to know how to make a camera, what kind of film to use for the images, and the difficulty level in getting started. They are curious, bright-eyed, and eager to learn about the many possibilities; these people are probably just like you. Hopefully you are reading this book to broaden your photographic skills, to push into a new realm of art, and to try something new. Let’s start with the basics. This is all you really need to remember about pinhole photography.
This is the art form, essentially, in a nutshell:
- A pinhole camera is simply a camera without a lens
- A pinhole camera can be constructed from practically any light-tight container
- A pinhole camera is fundamentally a very sophisticated light leak
- A pinhole is created by drilling a tiny hole in a piece of thin metal
- A pinhole converges light rays to form an image within the camera
- A pinhole image can be captured on sensitized materials such as film and paper
- A pinhole image exposure can range widely from seconds to months
- A pinhole image features an extreme depth of field
- A pinhole photographer is limited only by his imagination
Every advanced concept from multiple pinholes to solargraphy, found further in this book, will build off of these simple principles and open endless options for variation and experimentation. There are other subtle points that serve as an advantage: pinhole photography is relatively inexpensive compared to current digital cameras and media, the do-it-yourself nature of the hobby is fun while challenging your inner creativity, the scientific principles simultaneously educate children and adults, and your images will truly be one-of-a-kind photographic enigmas that will draw attention and stand out from the crowd.
This whimsical plastic egg was converted into a pinhole camera. I painted the interior with several coats of black spray paint. I drilled a hole in the dinosaur’s eye and placed a small pinhole in position. The camera accepts small paper negatives, approximately 1″ x 1″.
