Self Portrait, Sleepy Hollow, 4x5 Pinhole Photograph

There are the obvious visual clues as to the camera I am using here: the distorted wide angle, the vignetting and blurring of the edges of the image. The pinhole camera also lacks a viewfinder, which means that you have to look carefully when planning your picture and be willing to accept that things won’t always go the way you expect them to.

By far, though, the most important factor in pinhole photography is time. In taking these photographs, I would sometimes sit for close to an hour, reading a book, waiting for an exposure to finish. Having so much time away from distractions—having time just to think—is much more important than I’ve realized and very conducive to making art. I am not really ready to talk about some of the ideas that have been coming to me on my journeys out into the woods, and I have no idea if those ideas will translate into photographs that are worth anything, but the process alone has been enlightening.

I think these images are interesting, but they feel like a side-trip rather than a destination. Sometimes diversions are exactly what we need to realize where our focus should really be.

Self Portrait, Sleepy Hollow, 4x5 Pinhole Photograph

Prospect Park, 4x5 Pinhole Photograph