Paris through a pinhole.

From my perspective, Pat Bognar has perfected the pinhole photo. Pinhole refers to photos taken with a camera (or small box) that uses a hole no bigger than a pinhole to capture an image. Giving how small a pinhole is, this method of taking photos requires long exposure times under lots of sunlight.

Not pretending to know what I am doing I have recently entered the world of the pinhole. First, I acquired a small box which was sold as a kit. The kit is the camera and has everything one needs to take and develop pinhole photos inside. From start to finish, from photo paper to developing solutions. This small box, old-school shall we say, is awesome but slightly time intensive considering it works one exposure at a time, as in each piece of photo paper has to be removed and another replaced in complete darkness, under red light. I have yet to set aside a day (or two) to undertake this endeavor but rest assure I will update you on the outcome when that day comes.

However, my friend Terry, who works at Shakespeare and Co made me a digital pinhole “lens”. Meaning he took a simple lens cap, cut out a small hole in the center, then took a piece of tin and covered the small hole, then, you guessed it, poked out a tiny, tiny pinhole in the center of the tin.

I stuck this digital pinhole on my Nikon D70 a few days ago (the last few days in Paris have been on par with fall weather in Portland...) and came to find it makes for some interesting albeit blurred images. I haven't had much time to play with it but enjoy the practice before embarking on a journey with my little black box in hand.