pinhole photography — learn how to build your own pinhole camera
Workshops details
Photosensitive paper needs sunlight, just like a plant — in order to complete the photosynthesis process, in order to live. Our photography workshops are an attempt to approach the mystery of life, in which light plays a leading part.
When a creative activity begins with a construction of a tool, such as a photo camera, it is much easier to grasp the basic optical and chemical processes involved, and to understand what photography is (Greek: phōtós — light; gráphō — I write, graphein — to draw, to write; drawing with light). Such perception of photography stimulates an imaginative approach to creating a photographic image, which becomes not only a reflection of the surrounding reality but also its interpretation.
These workshops are by no means designed to be a photography course. At the end of the classes participants will be able to build a photographic camera on their own from virtually any container, to take pictures using this unique medium and to develop a paper negative.
Workshop instructor: Krzysztof Szlapa
At the conclusion of the workshops, there will be an exhibition in the BWA Gallery, showcasing the works made during the plein-air.
Workshops participants will be allowed to keep their photographic negatives.
Workshop Prices:
A pass for all workshops costs 79 zł
Contact us if you want to take part or have any question:
phone +48 32 259 90 40 extension number 13
or Aneta Zasucha phone +48 510 853 090
edukacja@bwa.katowice.pl
Pinhole photography — a photography technique using a pinhole camera, also known as camera obscura (from Latin: a darkened chamber) — a simple optical device, the prototype of the photographic camera.
This ingenious device consists of a box with a small hole in one side (0,3—1mm in diameter depending on the camera size) which functions as a lens. The inside of the box needs to be painted black, to reduce light reflections. There is also a ground glass (focusing) screen or tracing paper fixed to the wall opposite the hole. Light rays pass through the hole, creating an inverted and scaled down image on the screen, to which a negative film can be attached to take a photograph. A photo taken using a pinhole camera is characterised by gentle contrast, distinctive 'softness' and fuzziness, infinite depth of field and a total lack of distortion in the image. Owing to these features camera obscura even today continues to be used in artistic photography.
