Celebrate Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day at Georgia Southern’s Armstrong Campus

April 17, 2018

A photograph produced from a pinhole camera created from a pumpkin.

The Georgia Southern University Armstrong Campus in Savannah will host a workshop for Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day from noon to 5 p.m, April 29, in Fine Arts Hall, room 211. The workshop is free and open to all ages and skill levels.

Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day is an international event that celebrates the art of pinhole photography, a method of producing a photograph that requires only a light-tight container enclosing any photosensitive surface with a tiny hole in one side. Existing cameras can be adapted, or one can be purpose-built for pinhole photography.

“A pinhole camera can be created out of any hollow object that can be made light-tight,” said Assistant Professor of Photography Bridget Conn, who is hosting the workshop. “If the opening that allows light to enter the chamber is small enough, say a pinhole, the rays of light will be focused on the image, and photographic paper will capture it. I’ve seen cameras made out of a car, a book, an ice cooler, a green pepper and an airplane hangar – just about anything can be turned into a camera.”

The workshop will provide a look at photographic techniques that were in use prior to modern technological advances.

“Analog photography and darkrooms have now become sources of artistic discovery,” said Conn. “It becomes relaxing to slow down and really think through the creation of an image that will take you several minutes to capture and develop. Pinhole cameras are capable of capturing images that can’t be seen with the naked eye, due to the long exposure times.”

Each participant will have the opportunity to create at least one pinhole camera photograph to be uploaded to the global database of images created on Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day. An exhibition of student photos will also be on display. Cameras and paper will be available to participants.