Profile
17
JustinQuinnell Justin Quinnell was involved withWorldwide Pinhole Photography Day at its inception and now uses his role as the event’s publicist to spread the word INTERVIEW
BIOGRAPHY
Years in the photo industry: 30 Current location: Bristol (my home town) Last picture taken: Two days ago, of my daughter Rosa blowing candles out on her eighth birthday! Hobbies: Photography, obscura fun, environmental politics, cycling, pub quizzes, my family
When youwere younger, what did you want to bewhen you grewup? Zookeeper
Dogsor cats? Cats – as long as they don’t kill birds!
Toast or cereal? Cereal
Email or phone call? Email
This year will mark the 15th Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day, how did it all start? It began with a few pinholers in the US and UK suggesting it would be a fun thing to do on the Internet to promote lensless image-making. Photography and the emerging digital technology was leading to an ever-more commercial photographic view of the world. Pinhole day would allow everyone to enjoy the wonder and discovery of pinhole imaging and to exhibit their photo on a worldwide stage. Not all of us are well versed in the ways of pinhole photography, how does it work? Light travels in a straight line. When this travels through a small hole it creates an inverted image. This can be projected inside the camera onto a sheet of light-sensitive material (or, in a DSLR, onto a CCD chip). Cameras can be made out of anything light-tight; my favourite is a beer can. It happens on the last Sunday in April every year, which this year will be on 26 April. All you need to do is make a camera a few weeks before to give you time to test it out. Then on the day, find somewhere near a blacked-out temporary darkroom, encourage people to take a pinhole picture and watch as it magically appears in the chemicals. The negative can be developed then scanned – or photographed in inverse – and uploaded onto the Pinhole Day gallery. You have a month to load the images onto the site – one image per person. How much has it grown since the beginning? The first event had 291 people from 24 countries. The most we have had was 3865 from 74 countries including Azerbaijan, Congo and Vietnam. We are hoping to break the 4000 barrier this year! When is Pinhole Day and what do people have to do to get involved?
What does it take to organise such an event? This year there are seven co-ordinators, two translators, and 25 publicists around the world. As well as these, there are camera clubs, teachers and so on who organise workshops and events to encourage pinhole photography around this date. Tell us more about the events around the day. All events are viewable on the events page of the website. Most appear a few weeks before the day. I am doing a public talk a few weeks before and a set of workshops at the Clifton Suspension Bridge. Howdidyou first get intopinholephotography? I was head of photography at a college in Bristol where many of the kids couldn’t afford cameras so I got them all to make a camera out of a cola can and I was hooked. I was also getting disillusioned with my own travel-related photography and encountering an interest in environmentalism. Can anything be turned into a pinhole camera? There are all the resources you need on the Pinhole Day website. Any light-tight container can be made into a pinhole camera. Try and find a container where the pinhole is close to the film plane. Make the pinhole out of aluminium and give yourself time to experiment. In the past I’ve used a watermelon, giant waste bin, cream crackers, jelly (didn’t work!), a plastic horse, all kinds of fun! What are some of the more creative pinhole contraptions you’ve come across? We have a section on the website which allows people to put up a picture of their camera along with their image. There are loads of things used
although my favourite will always be ‘a box I found lying around’ or anything edible.
What’s the key to taking a great pinhole photo? The main thing is to imagine what you are photographing rather than trying to imitate what Nikon and Canon force you to photograph with viewfinder-based DSLRs. Enjoying not knowing what is going to happen, the fun of the unknown. Any suggestions on how camera clubs can get involved and celebrate the event? The best thing is for your club to organise a Pinhole Day event on 26 April and get people along to use a pinhole camera and have their photo uploaded onto the gallery. You can then submit the photos taken in your workshop as a group on the gallery and get some publicity (and potential new members) for your club. It’s all free and resources are all on the Pinhole Day website. Do you have any plans to expand the event? Hopefully one day people will put away their autoexposing, buzzy, flashy, battery-reliant, debt‑ridden machines, discard their ‘three kittens in a basket’ approach to seeing the world and party with the fun that is a pinhole camera. Any last words to encourage readers to get involved? Organise any events near you! Not only are pinhole cameras fun and full of wonder, they also cost £34,794 less than a H4D-200MS!
In the past I’ve used awatermelon,
giant waste bin, cream crackers,
a plastic horse, all kinds of fun!
π To find out more, visit www.pinholephotography.org.
www.absolutephoto.com
Issue 17 | Photography News
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