ART 163 PINHOLE PHOTOGRAPHY

David Kuoppamaki
BLUE AND YELLOW
Digital print from a pinhole paper negative
Class '08

PINHOLE PHOTOGRAPHY

ART 163
Spring 2008
Instructor: Roger Vail
Fridays 11:00 - 4:50.
Classrooms: KDM 264, 268, 280-296
Office: KDM 193
Office hours:
Thursdays 4-6 pm
Fridays 10-11 am.
e-mail: rvail@csus.edu
Sacramento State University

CATALOG COURSE DESCRIPTION
ART 163 Pinhole Photography. Intermediate course investigating the theory, history, and practice of pinhole photography. Self-made pinhole cameras of varying focal lengths using b&w and color paper negatives, film negatives, and transparencies. Emphasis on creative approach in both camera making and image formation, supported by advanced level photographic technique. Individual final portfolios and group exhibition of cameras and prints at conclusion of course. Studio course meeting 6 hours per week. Prerequisite: PHO 40 or equivalent. 3 units.

Who would believe that so small a space could contain the image of all the universe? O mighty process! What talent can avail to penetrate a nature such as these? What tonque will it be that can unfold so great a wonder? Verily, none! This it is that guides the human discource to the considering of divine things. Here the figures, here the colors, here all the images of every part of the universe are contracted to a point. O what a point is so marvelous! - Leonardo da Vinci

INTRODUCTION
The images on this page, the one above by Dan McCormack, the image in the center by Justin Quinnell from his website Pinhole Photography by Justin Quinnel, and the image at the bottom of the page by Claudia Wornum, are examples of the kind of innovative image making we seek to develop in this course. McCormack has combined traditional pinhole imagery with digital print manipulations, while Quinnell, in an exhibition entitled 'A Day in the Life Of...', showed a sequence of photographs of 'everyday events' taken with a camera made from a 110 film cartridge placed in the mouth of the photographer. The camera was constructed by taping a sheet of bent aluminium with a pin-hole over the part of the cartridge where the emusion is exposed to light. Wornum, using a panorama style pinhole camera on location in the Eastern Sierra Nevada, radically alters the color of her images through manipulative film processing and printing. A brief tutorial by Dan McCormack on how he makes his images can be found here.

In ART 163 students will be asked to make pinhole cameras of different sizes, shapes, and focal lengths and use a wide variey of photographic materials to make pinhole images. Pinhole photography offers the photographer an opportunity to work closely with the basic elements of image formation - light, lens, camera design, visualization, camera placement. The pinhole, unlike the glass lens, offers unlimited depth of field and depth of focus, prompting the user to compose imagery in virtual sharp focus extending from a fraction of an inch to infinity. Most pinhole cameras have no viewing capability, forcing the photographer to carefully consider the importance of camera placement in image formation. And since time exposures are the norm, one must consider the passage of time as part of the image. These three features of pinhole photography compel the photographer to work in a very different and instructive way. Each photography student will arrive at a unique set of conclusions. The ultimate goal of the course is to increase the ability of the photography student to handle and manipulate, both aesthetically and technically, the photographic medium.

James Gilmore
HEDGE CREEK PLUNGE
Platinum-palladium print from pinhole negative
Class of '08

We emphasize a creative approach in both camera making (particularly the sculptural possibilities of pinhole cameras) and image formation throughout. For a more in depth exploration of pinhole camera theory and design please turn to the PINHOLE CAMERA DESIGN page. Images made from handmade pinhole paper cameras can be seen at the Thomas Hudson Reeve / Photographer web site. Invitation au Voyage - kallitype prints and pinhole photography is a site which presents pinhole images printed with an alternative photographic process similar to Argyrotype and Van Dyck brown.

THE PINHOLE page contains instructions for making pinholes as well as sources for purchasing manufactured pinholes.

On-line and gallery exhibitions of the pinhole images and student-made cameras will conclude the course.

ATTENDANCE
ART 163 meets only once a week.Therefore two absences = minus one letter grade, three absences = minus two letter grades, four absences = minus three letter grades. More than four absences will result in failure. More than one late arrival or early departure will be treated as a partial absence.

EXPECTED LEARNING OUTCOMES
Increased understanding of light, lens, lens limitations, camera design, visualization, camera placement, correct exposure, and the aesthetics and technology of photographic image formation.
Increased skills in visualization, image formation through working with unlimited depth of field and camera placement not possible with glass lenses.
Increased innovative abilities with the photographic medium.
Generally increased ability to handle and manipulate, both aesthetically and technically, the photographic medium.

COST ESTIMATE
Cost to each student approximately $100 to $200 depending on the amount and size of film and photo paper used.