I’m one of those cliche photographers who always has a camera with me. Typically it is a 35mm compact camera that I use as a sort of daily diary. Just something I can pull out of my pocket and take the occasional snapshot that catches my fancy. I hardly ever consider the work particularly purposeful or note worthy, but I think it is important to do it all the same.
A few weeks ago however I decided to mix it up a bit and I carried around a Zero Image 6x6 Pinhole Camera around with me instead. The camera can do 12 exposures on medium format film and it is small enough to fit in the breast pocket of the coat I wear on most days. A little different maybe? Yes, but sometimes we all have to mix it up a bit to keep the creative juices moving in our brains.
Photographed with a Zero Image 6x6 Pinhole Camera and Ilford Delta 400 film in 120.
I usually start walking to work shortly before 6am. I tend to be an early riser in my old age, something I never thought I would say out loud. That means for a good chunk of the year I start walking before the sun even comes up. I knew that might make for some interesting opportunities, and interesting challenges with a pinhole camera. My exposures certainly weren’t going to be short!
This image was exposed over a period of about fifteen minutes. I set the camera directly on the ground and pointed it toward an intersection with a car dealership hoping there would be enough light. Even after a fifteen minute exposure the negative came out a bit thin and underexposed, but good enough to get a decent scan and share it here. Long pinhole exposures are a bit of guess work at best and this was no exception.