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I often take a camera with me when I’m travelling for work, but one day back in September I picked a pinhole camera to document my travels. I was heading down to the south coast for a rehearsal, with a longish wait at Havant station for my final train of the morning, so I perched my camera on a bench and captured my foot as a train whizzed through on the opposite platform.
The train departing from platform 2….
Doing some work on the train home…
Photos taken 26 September 2022
I never tire of photographing the British Museum, especially the Great Court. Today I went for a different approach, using my pinhole camera. The security guard at the entrance was intrigued by my little wooden box, but he eventually decided accept my explanation as to what it was!
I decided not to risk a full size tripod, but instead too my little table top one. This limited my options a little, but also meant I could try some unusual angles!
Click on any of the photos to see them enlarged.
The joy of long exposure photography - you’d never know a hoard of children walked up the stairs in front of these mosaics while my shutter was open!
I took another approach for this photo, propping my camera on a small beanbag beside these carved heads.
The classic view of the Great Court. All I had for support was a handrail so I clamped my camera to it with the beanbag for cushioning and, to my amazement, it worked!
On the steps outside the Museum.
With a few frames of film left I went off exploring to find more scenes to photograph and ended up at Daunt Books in Marylebone High Street for this view from their beautiful gallery.
Finally, some fun on the Elizabeth Line on my way back to the station!
Photos taken 1 December 2022
This summer was a particularly good one for car shows and we got to lots of events with one of our classic Minis. In early September we went to the car show in the Hertfordshire village of Redbourn and I decided on a slow motion approach to the day, with a pair of pinhole cameras.
Knowing I wouldn’t be distracted by any faster photography I took along my large format camera, with four sheets of film loaded into dark slides. For these I had to choose my subjects carefully, with only four photos at my disposal!
I love the way the crowds turn into a blur of human motion during the long exposures - that puts all the focus on the cars.
Click on any image to see it enlarged.
We had a mid-afternoon downpour so Kevin and I retreated to the car until the rain had passed. Then he wiped the car down to remove all the raindrops - the perfect excuse for an action pinhole photo!
The view from inside a rather wet Morris!
My last two large format photos of the day.
Photos taken 3 September 2022
At the camera club this week we had a workshop evening and one of the activities on offer was the opportunity to try out some pinhole photography. I took one of my cameras along, loaded with Ilford Delta 3200 film and gave other club members a chance to try their hand at taking photos with it.
We tried out a variety of scenes, including still life and some very slow portraits, and I along the way I took three shots myself. For the chess board my camera was about 5 centimetres from the closes chess piece, showing just how close you have to get with an equivalent of a 14mm focal length!
One of the other activities on offer was large format photography so I couldn’t resist take a photo of my friend Paul as he set up for a still life shot. His camera and the toolbox are sharp, while he appears blurred as he moved around setting up the camera. I couldn’t resist taking a portrait of him too, although 30 seconds was a bit too long to maintain a rock steady pose!
Photos taken 6 December 2022
This summer was a particularly hot one, so when I had a free day in September I took a leisurely trip to Audley End with my pinhole camera and a small tabletop tripod to search for photos.
Getting really close to the succulents in the glasshouse
Inside the garden bothy, with just a hint of flare from the window.
Looking up into the branches of a huge plane tree.
In the laundry I used my little tripod to get really close to things.
And finally, relaxing with an ice cream in the sunshine!
Photos taken September 2022
There are certain subjects you expect to make good pinhole photos, but aviation photography is not an obvious choice. When we visited Duxford over the summer, rather than taking a digital camera with a long lens, I plumped for my large format pinhole camera. I knew this would severely restrict my options but that wasn’t going to stop me!
Sally B was out on the concrete apron, surrounded by people so I set my tripod up over the fence and took a slowish exposure. This meant the people blurred as they milled around, creating a ghostly effect.
Elsewhere on the airfield the two seater Spitfire was being readied for flight so, once again, I took the opportunity to capture a sense of movement in the human element in the frame as the passenger slipped into the cockpit.
Another Spitfire, albeit one made of fibreglass, which is why I was able to get quite so close!
Photos taken 21 August 2022
I always spend a lot of time taking photos at the Recorder Summer School, but mostly they’re images of the musical activities during the course. This year I decided to give myself a personal photographic project - to take at least one pinhole photo somewhere around Bishop Burton College.
I loaded up two of my pinhole cameras - one with black and white film and the second with colour so I had maximum flexibility, depending on what I found around the grounds.
The first morning it was surprisingly misty - not what you expect in August - but that made for some suitably atmospheric photos.
Driftwood sculptures in the College grounds
Colour seemed a good choice for the glasshouses.
I photographed some of the musical activities too, including a concert by the recorder quartet Palisander.
One of my wackier ideas - a stick man strolling past the wheelie bins!
Scrap metal sculpture in the walled gardens. This chap’s drums are made out of cut down beer barrels and the drum from a washing machine!
A seventeen minute exposure while I conducted the massed ranks of players one evening.
A close up of nature in the glasshouse
Photos taken August 2022
A day off at the beginning of August gave me an opportunity to go exploring with my pinhole camera again so I went in search of some churches to photograph. I set myself a challenge by only taking my little tabletop tripod so that meant I had to find photos which would suit this low perspective.
I started off at the church in Takeley - sadly closed but there was plenty of opportunities in the churchyard. Creative limitations always make me work harder and this low perspective certainly helped me consider possibilities I might otherwise have overlooked.
A mouse’s eye view of the north door
Getting down among a carpet of ivy in the churchyard
From Takeley I took to the road again and ended up in the village of Aythorp Roding. Here the church was open, but with slow film in my camera I was looking at exposure times of an hour or more so I gave up on that idea and finished off my film around the churchyard.
Churchyard sunflare and a rusty old bootscraper. Click on any of the photos to see them enlarged.
Photos taken 4 August 2022
We may have lived in Essex for nearly a decade now but there are still plenty of places left to explore. I recently had the opportunity to spend some time down by the River Blackwater in Maldon with my pinhole camera. The Thames Barges lining the riverside provided me with lots of inspiration and I enjoyed exploring the details I found in their rigging and the quayside.
A few days later I was out and about again, on the hunt for somewhere to finish off my roll of film and I discovered St Michael and All Angels Church in the village of Copford.
Inside I found some beautiful wall paintings and with a little patience I realised I could capture a handful of images with the film I had loaded in my camera. As the afternoon light began to fade I searched for the light switches and found I needed to feed some coins into the meter to get them going. Fortunately I had some change and the added light meant my photos would take just a few minutes each, rather than an hour or more!
Of course, the unknown quantity was how many minutes of illumination my pound coin would buy me and for both these interior photos I had to dash down to feed the meter again mid-exposure!
After those two photos I decided to move outdoors to explore the churchyard as the rain had stopped and the gloomy conditions allowed me to catch some very atmospheric photos.
Photos taken in November 2022.
When I visited Wells back in July I took lots of digital photos around the Cathedral, but for the Vicar’s Close I took things more slowly, shooting with a pinhole camera.
This may be Europe’s oldest residential street, but even the slow process of pinhole photography can’t magic away the modern cars!
Photos taken 1 July 2022
