Through the Eye of a Pinhole

Imagine way back when there was no Instagram, no digital cameras, and not even any black and white film cameras to use. People literally poked holes in tin cans using pins and made a camera out of it. Appropriately, these cameras were named Pinhole cameras, and are the most basic, yet most complicated method of photography invented.

When I was freshman in high school, it came to be that time of the year; making schedules for the next year! After I got all of my basics out of the way (such as English, Physical Education and Earth Science) it was time to fill up my blocks with electives. Now, I think it is safe to say that when some students pick electives they base their decisions on three things: The teacher. The amount of homework. And if they fail, will it completely screw their entire final average. I am not one of those students. I try and make sure there is a balance between things that challenge me and things that I am somewhat interested in. When I made my schedule, I signed up for black and white photography. I can honestly say that was probably the best decision of my life.

The first unit we did was learning about Pinhole Cameras, their history, how they work, and such. This picture right here is the first and only Pinhole photograph that I have ever taken in my life up to this point. It is hard to use a Pinhole camera because you cannot exactly tell where your hole is pointing at, or how long and how much to expose the photo paper for. You have to play guess-and-check in order to get a usable negative. I was really proud of myself to get a pretty good negative in one try.

If you would like to learn more about how Pinhole Cameras actually work, check out this link! http://wwwx.cs.unc.edu/~sud/courses/comp235/pin-hole.html