World Pinhole Photography Day 2023.

 For the uninitiated, World Pinhole Photography Day takes place on the last Sunday of April and has been in existence for a number of years. This year, I chose to make images of the West End section of the GRabd Union Canal in my hometown of Leicester, UK, quite close to where we live. I was accompanied by my good friend John Toye, himself a great photographer, and between us came up with some reasonably good pinhole images.

I mentioned before about paper negatives, this time I faired a little better although not perfect, but overall was pleased with the results. WPPD is not a competition, just an international coming together of pinhole enthusiasts like me, and they can be found online, the address I will give next time when I talk a little bit about pinhole photography worldwide. 

The Chroma and Skink lens performed very well on the day, and more than anything else, it was pure fun!.

Paper Negatives (1)

 I have been working with paper negatives since the late 1990s, when I made my very first pinhole camera, after seeing the work of Irish photographer David Gepp. More about David in another blog. A recent dig into my Archive revealed paper negatives I hadn't seen for years, and when I started to get back into this method with my new CHROMA CAMERA, I had to start all over again. 

The images here were the first four test shots and they are riddled with mistakes and scratches, as they were so quickly and poorly developed (not my usual method), and were made to test both the camera and the accuracy of the pinhole. I have a few boxes of paper left in store, and over the next few months, I will be cutting the paper down to size, and get to grips, with the developing process, to make much cleaner and stronger paper negatives.

Most of the paper was ILFORD Multigrade, but I have recently acquired a large box of Kentmere, which has been recommended to me. The experts say to stick to matt-based paper, but I have always tended to use anything to hand. Some of the early work I will show another time, but for now, back to the drawing board.

Using Old Film.

 A good friend of mine who is a professional photographer, gave me three boxes of outdated 4x5 film he had found in some forgotten corner of his workplace. One of those boxes was an unopened treasure of Ilford ORTHO, a black and white film, which had passed its sell-by date in 1999. As I'd been spending a lot of time in our back garden, photographing the death and rebirth of our micro meadow, and other plants, I thought I would load up the darkslides, and make some images, in the style of the street or urban photography (which is a passion of mine).

The results were mixed, but I like impurities on film, scratches, shadows, leaks, etc, and there are plenty here to feed my enthusiasm. I made (or converted) a normal 120 Patterson film tank to process the film in Ilford Universal PQ developer, and they were fixed for 10 minutes. As I write, I am preparing the last of the film for a visit to a local landmark tomorrow 'Beacon Hill', to capture the pre-Cambrian rock structures, in the district of Charnwood, UK. 

Along with the Ortho film, came a box of Ektachrome, and a partially opened box of C41 color print film, which will be used up in the coming Autumn and Winter months.

The Story.

 Several years ago, just prior to UK Lockdown, I had decided to move on. or move up to large format photography, and was looking around for a camera to purchase. After extensive research, I found a company in Liverpool called CHROMA CAMERAS and browsed their online pages and what caught my eye was a camera called the 'Adventurer', made of acrylic and available in a range of colours. Immediately, yellow came to mind, so extracting a fistful of cash from one of my pension funds, I made an order and started to purchase (from friends), 4x5 darkslides in preparation.

Then, as we all know, Covid-19 struck and spread throughout the world, all of us being confined to home for the foreseeable future. Of course, this held up production, but the designer and owner of CHROMA, Steve Lloyd, kept me and his other customers well informed throughout the year, and finally, in October 2020, my camera arrived in time for my birthday, and I was overjoyed. From that moment on, I have been making images, mostly using paper negatives, changing to film a little later.

As we all know, Covid was not over, and I spent some time documenting our house for an exhibition that had the working title 'A Society Corralled', which went on show at the Chapel Gallery, Leicester in August-September 2021. I will blog about the exhibition at a later date, but in general, it was well received. So here I am, approaching my 70th year, and in the process of mothballing the majority of my 35mm bodies, lenses up for sale, with the exception of a Canon AE-1, which accompanies me on the large format shoots. My hope is that you will stick around or follow me and the Yellow 'Beast' as I call the camera, please say 'Hi' if you see me out and about.

Introduction

 Sometimes in life, a lightbulb is turned on, and you find the pathway is clear, as to what you want to do, possibly for the rest of your life. Me, it was a few weeks before Lockdown, when I read about the CHROMA CAMERA company in Liverpool, UK that made 4x5 cameras to order, in a variety of colours. That was it, there was no going back. I withdrew some cash from a pension fund and placed an order for a yellow-based 'Adventurer' model, designed and built by Steve Lloyd, owner and founder of the company.

Then, disaster (as we all know), a virus first discovered in China, had spread its evil tentacles worldwide and we were all confined to barracks, for months on end. Steve, through no fault of his own, couldn't get the camera to me until October, but in fairness, he regularly informed his customers of the situation. When I did get it, I was completely overjoyed with the quality of the build and the beautiful design. 

In the meantime, I purchased a 'pinhole' lens from a company in Germany (more about that another time), and I was ready to shoot. I already had three 4x5 film darkslides, so I loaded them with Ilford Multigrade paper and set about making images. Most of them were made indoors at first, as I was still busy documenting the various stages of the Lockdown. The images made in our house, eventually became an exhibition, staged at The Chapel Gallery, Leicester in the late summer of 2021. The title was 'A Society Corralled' and was generally well received.

Since that time, I have used the camera more and more, and these days, it's my camera of choice for many long-term projects. This blog has been set up to describe my personal relationship with what is without a shadow of a doubt, the best camera I have ever had or used. please feel free to leave comments, and to get in touch with any questions you may have.

Tony Shelley, July 28, 2023.