This week, I had the wonderful opportunity to teach pinhole photography to youngsters at the Kids University, a summer camp hosted by the University of Georgia-Griffin Campus’ Office of Continuing Education. The lovely Wendi Bozeman, to whom I am eternally grateful, helped me with this daunting task. It was daunting because adults will at least pretend to be entertained; Kids, on the other hand, will let you know the second they become bored. I’ve been involved with UGA’s Continuing Education adult programs for several years (teaching digital photography), but this was my first foray into teaching children (and film photography, for that matter).
Pinhole cameras can be made from a variety of objects — oatmeal containers, Pringles cans, juice boxes, shoeboxes, pretty much anything that you can stick a piece of film or paper in and make light tight. We decided on shoeboxes. They’re readily abundant (for free) at many shoe stores, and many can easily fit a 5×7 piece of photo paper inside them. Though film would be better for reproduction purposes, paper worked best for this situation because we could process the prints in our homemade darkroom (more on that later). I thought this was important, so the children could be a part of the entire process — from building the box to taking the picture to developing the print.
Before getting started building the box, it’s a good idea to spray paint the inside of it flat black. This prevents light entering the box from bouncing off the paper, ricocheting off the walls, and damaging the print during exposure.
To build the “lens” for the box, I needed a few materials — a pair of scissors, a piece of black duct tape a couple of inches long, a piece of thick aluminum foil (I cut a small piece out of a disposable baking pan) and a sewing needle. I pierced a hole in the aluminum foil using the pin (this hole is both the lens and the aperture), and placed it in the middle of the piece of tape (I had to cut a small hole in the center of the tape). Take the pair of scissor (or knife) and cut a dime-sized hole in the middle of one of the sides. The final step is to simply place the tape over the hole, making sure the hole in the foil is in the center of the box’s hole you just created. For the shutter, I used a a couple pieces of tape and placed it over the lens so that it could be easily pulled back during the exposure. TIP: You may need to sand the foil after making the hole, ensuring that it’s completely smooth on both sides (a small piece of foil hanging in the hole after piercing the foil can prevent light from entering the box evenly.
Inserting the paper requires a dark room. And since the University did not have a traditional one, we improvised. We used a closet, covering the door with a large black sleeping bag. I found it useful to cut holes in the sleeping bag, hanging it on some self-adhesive hooks above the door frame. Then, using a safe light, I was able to install the photographic paper into the boxes. I taped the paper on the inside of the box opposite the lens. For some of the larger boxes, I found it useful to place the lens in the top, allowing the paper to be neatly placed on the bottom (thanks Gabe!)
Once the paper is installed, I taped up all the sides and possible entry points for light before leaving the newly converted darkroom. Now that the boxes were loaded and taped up, it was time to to take them outside!
Depending on the lighting situations, we used 10-20 second exposures. As you can tell from the photos below, over- and under-exposure was a problem. Taking pinhole photographs is not an exact science, and when 8-year-olds are carrying and operating these things, anything can happen.
However, I will say that if I had to do it over again, I would use a less contrasty paper than the ILFORD. This brand is known for having deep blacks and white whites, giving photos a very distinct and contrasty look. However, considering how easily it is to over- and underexpose photos in pinhole cameras, this was not the best paper for the job. Because of the stark contrast, many of the photos look similar to infrared photographs.
I’m not sure which paper is best, but next time, I plan on using a paper that has more latitude. I would prefer more of a range of blacks, which would be much more forgiving.
As for the processing, I was pleasantly surprised at how easily I found all the necessary chemicals and tools (trays, tongs, safelight, etc.) I needed to process the photos. Black and white was was the easy choice, because rocessing color films and paper is much more expensive — it requires chemicals to be held at certain temperature ranges.
Like I said earlier, pinhole photography is not an exact science. Light sometimes gets inside the box, the shutter gets accidentally opened, and determining exposure times can prove to be difficult. There is a ton of information on the web dedicated to pinhole photography, including calculations for determining exposure times (you must know the diameter of your lens/aperture). Or, as I did, you can experiment and try to figure out what works using trial and error.
And though the inconsistencies and surprises that happen when making photographs with pinhole cameras can be frustrating, they can also be really beautiful. For example, the first photo below is a combination of extreme overexposure and the marks left by the developing chemicals.
These photos are some of my favorites from the classes. These students were amazing pinhole camera photographers and picked up the whole process much easier than I anticipated. I can’t wait to do it all over again next year!
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