John Cuttriss - Visual Artist

Why use a Pinhole Camera

A few years ago a blurred photograph in an exhibition captured my attention.

At one time, I would probably have rejected it as technically incorrect yet I returned to view it several times and decided I would investigate why its properties had captivated me.

Eventually it seemed to me that the nature of a blurred picture is that the blur depicts movement and captures a period of time rather than a split fraction of a second as in modern digital photography.

After some time it dawned on me that it was not the blur, but the reason for the blur that had hooked me. It was the cocktail of time and light that was registered on the photographic paper.

Because a pinhole camera has only a very small hole for the light to come in through, the length of the exposure time is correspondingly long.

Many of the pictures I take are in low lighting conditions indoors with a 3min exposure. Sometimes they will be hand held and the exposures are normally an experienced guess.

The exposure time for me is a period of quiet contemplation or meditation and there is always wonder about the unpredictability of the process with no controls, optics or even a viewfinder.

In a pinhole photograph, only the stationary will be registered accurately on the image whilst any movement may nor be registered or will appear as a blur.

I was drawn to pinhole images because of the visual qualities and the fact that as there is no viewfinder, the image cannot be planned and will appear only when devleoped.

I’ve made cameras out of shoeboxes, suitcases, tins and have converted my garage and rooms in shops and galleries to makephotographs.