successful workshop

Hi:

Rick and I did our pinhole alternative process workshop this past weekend.
It was very successful. We had 11 participants, all left happy with some
new techniques and a pile of pinhole work.

We were able to offer this as part of the UofS extension divisions
certificate of art program. We were able to use their facilities which
made it very easy to do this workshop.

We introduced pinhole cameras - talked briefly about essentials - spent
most of our time explaining how to make a good pinhole and F stop and F
number calculations, so that participants could properly expose. Talked
about the film we use, large format Kodak CGP. We were providing lots of
film 8x10 up to 16x20.

They then went and spent about an hour building cameras. We had brought
in a bunch of tins tape cardboard aluminum flashing (for pinholes)

We had also brought in all of our cameras. lots of 8x10's a 8x10 zone
plate, a 6 hole 360 degree camera, a 12x18 inch camera. Rick made a 16x20
inch camera for the occasion.

We explained how to process the film - We were using our favorite CGP
film. Development was done in trays under safelight.

A few people went home over our lunch break and brought pinhole camera
building materials from home.

The participants then spent the afternoon shooting film and processing.
We made sure each person made a good negative with one of the really large
cameras. People "got-it" right away and were working pretty independently
by the afternoon. People used their own cameras and the ready made
cameras we had provided.

We had trouble dealing with the volume of film people were producing :)

At the end of Saturday's sesssion we asked if anyone was interested in
taking a camera home with them, in order to take pictures in a different
location. EVERYONE wanted to take one home !

Sunday morning we set up the darkroom to process the film everyone had
shot the evening before.

We then introduced cyanotype and VanDyke Brown. We had made a simple
printing frame for each person, a 12 x 18 piece of glass two pieces of
hardboard - hinged together with duct tape and six spring clips to hold it
together. A very simple split back printing frame.

People started coating paper and printing the negatives they had. We just
used the sun outside as a UV source - it was a bright sunny day luckily.
People just stepped out of the building with their negative and paper in a
printing frame, and held it in the sun for a few minutes. They stepped
inside to open one half of the frame in order to judge the exposure.

Told and showed them how to judge when a cyanotype and vandyke was
properly exposed.

We had the darkroom set up with chemistry for VanDyke and Cyanotype. When
they exposure looked OK - they would process the print.

We had a big printing frame for the 12x18 and 16x20 negatives.

By the afternoon everyone was working independently. Just asking us
questions to confirm things they had thought through.

Also showed people how to coat fabric and print negatives or photograms on
T-shirts and fabric. We had many fabulous fabric photograms created, many
combinations of photograms and pinhole negatives.

Again I had trouble finding places to dry all the prints and fabric :)

People left the workshop with a good understanding of pinhole cameras, and
working knowledge of cyanotype and vandyke, a pile of negatives, prints,
at least one good large format print, a T shirt and a fabric print of some
kind.

Everyone produced at least one piece that all of the other participants
"ewed and awed" over :)

Our goal in the workshop was to show people how simple and accessable
pinhole/alt-process photograhy can be. I think is was successful - all
the participants were working independently very quickly, and produced
really good results.

At the end of the workshop we had to insist that people stop, lots of
people were saying I just have to do one more :)

Four of the participants were High-School Art teachers. They said they
would add this to their classes. Many of them said this will work very
well with their programs. Hopefully there will be a steady crop of
pinholers here in the near future:)

It was the most fun I have had in a long time.

Gord
---------------------------------------------------------
Gordon J. Holtslander Dept. of Biology
holtsg@duke.usask.ca 112 Science Place
http://duke.usask.ca/~holtsg University of Saskatchewan
Tel (306) 966-4433 Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Fax (306) 966-4461 Canada S7N 5E2
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Received on Tue Jul 25 08:49:49 2006