Re: a welcome

Eric S. Theise wrote: (October 5)
>
> Hi everyone,
>
> Some people on the alt-photo-process list were wondering where our
> pinhole-discussion list went. I was alerted -- thanks! -- and I told
> them that the list lived on, just in a new location. So we have a
> handful of new and returning subscribers today.
>
> I'd like to welcome them to the list, and, of course, if anyone wants
> to introduce themselves, their work, and/or their interest in pinholes,
> please feel free to do so.
>

Hi everyone,
I'm late answering this, but I'm the one who asked the alt-photo list if
anyone knew what happened to the old pinhole discussion forum, and I'm
glad to find it still up and running. I had unsubscribed a couple of
years ago since I wasn't doing anything involving pinhole and I couldn't
keep up with the traffic on the forum. But I remember the forum fondly
as a "place" where there was a nice energy, with lots of creative and
friendly people sharing ideas with each other, and when I got the urge
to do pinhole work again, I wanted to be where I could hear y'all
talking, and maybe ask you a question if I got in a bind.

I discovered pinhole in 2000 when I was casting around for a new
creative idea to drive the work for an upcoming show. I have a brother
and a sister living in the Seattle area, and both of them sent me an
article from the Seattle Times describing the work of Rosanne Olson, a
pinhole photographer, saying it made them think of me and my work. Here
is the article, including a gallery of her work:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/news/travel/camera/index.html

This article was an inspiration to me, and I immediately started making
pinhole cameras.

I think one of the strengths of the old forum was the upload gallery
where people could easily upload iamges for the group to view. I don't
know if the revived forum has a similar feature, but at any rate I have
my own website and can show a few images I have made using pinhole.
I'll add a technical note for each, for gearheads. I print in gum
bichromate.

http://www.pacifier.com/~kthayer/html/sudek.html

This was my very first pinhole picture, made with a cardboard box and an
8x10 paper negative.

http://www.pacifier.com/~kthayer/html/pier.html

This was made with a pinhole mounted on a 100 mm cardboard tube on the
front of a Minolta 35mm body. (When I used to shoot 35 mm, 100mm was my
standard shooting focal length)

http://www.pacifier.com/~kthayer/html/Abstraction.html

This was made with a cardboard box, the same box I think as the first
one above.

http://www.pacifier.com/~kthayer/html/island.html

In 2001, an angel gave me an 8x10 Burke & James, and I was able to
retire most of my cardboard boxes. This is made with the bellows
extended to full length, about 30", on film. The pinhole was made by
jabbing a piece of alumimun piepan with a pushpin. (I can hear the gasp
from here.)

http://www.pacifier.com/~kthayer/html/desire.html

This series was made with a cardboard box, 4" deep, which takes 11x14
film or paper.

I've recently been having an urge to do pinhole work again, and for
reasons related to a problem with the back door of my hatchback, I can't
use my 8x10 until I get my new car which won't happen til spring. So I
spent last weekend making smaller cameras that will fit in the front
passenger seat. (They are all made of cardboard, since I don't have the
tools for working with wood.) I have three cardboard cameras that take
4x5 filmholders: a 3.5", a 12", and a 20". I have also made a triangular
camera and intend to make a couple more of those, and I made a superwide
camera out of a 4x5 film box (boy that's easy!) and am now working on a
multi-pinhole camera. I have checked these all for light leaks but
haven't taken any actual pictures with them yet since it's been dark and
stormy here since I finished them.

I have found 62cents worth of black felt to be a most useful tool in
lightproofing the cameras; I don't know why it took me til now to
discover this.

I haven't had a lot of chance to experiment with these cameras yet, as I
said, but one thing that I worry about is whether the pictures will be
too sharp. The angel who gave me the 8x10 also gave me a set of
pre-drilled pinholes, and I've been using those to save time, but I
don't want detailed pictures, I want masses of tone without detail, like
Rosanne Olson's pictures, so if these precision pinholes give me too
much detail I'll have to rip them out and replace them with more
pinholes made by jabbing aluminum foil with a pushpin.
Katharine Thayer
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Received on Tue Oct 26 09:02:52 2004