Pinhole photography, also called Camera Obscura, is one of the earliest and most primitive forms of creating a photograph. It can be traced as far back as 330 B.C. in the writings of Aristotle. The basic requirements for this method is a pinhole camera, light, light meter, and a substrate such as glass, paper or film, to name a few, which have light sensitive emulsions coated on one side for exposure. That is the simple explanation of how pinhole photographs are made. Then you have the process of developing you photograph in a darkroom, washing it, then letting it dry. Lastly, depending on what substrate you used, it will be scanned into the digital environment or enlarged by using a photo enlarger in the darkroom.

The photographs shown in this portfolio were created using a 4x5 Harman Titan Pinhole Camera, 8x10 Ilford Photographic Paper, a light meter for exposure calculations, a timer, and patience. Each 8x10 sheet of photographic paper was cut down to a 4x5 size to fit into a film slide on the back of the 4x5 pinhole camera. The first six photographs were developed in the darkroom at Texas A&M University in Commerce, Texas. The last three photographs were developed in a bathtub with a darkroom safe-light in the bathroom. All nine of them were then scanned into the digital environment. These photographs are true to their form and nature. The graininess and imperfections of the pinhole camera, in addition to, the paper and development process are what gives each photograph its character. Whenever you create a photograph utilizing such a primitive method there is no reason to take away from the beauty of the pinhole camera technique.