Solargraph 9th April 2013

One camera-less technique that I had read about and was fascinated by was pinhole photography.  This also lead onto Solargraphs.  This is a way of taking a really long exposure image, onto photographic paper, which doesn’t need developing.  I first read about Solargraphs on Justin Quinnell’s website.  I was also pointed in the direction of Tarja Trygg who did and collected a lot of solargraphs from around the world.

The basic idea is to leave a pinhole camera, in my case a beer can (as per Justin Quinnells instructions) facing the direction of the sun so that over the days the scene is exposed and the movement of the sun can clearly be seen.

My exposure was done onto 5×7 black and white photo paper from 3rd March 2013 to 9th April 2013, so just over a month.  When it was done I scanned it, inverted the image and had a play with some of the levels to produce this:

I was so pleased with it.  I couldn’t believe how well it had come out.  Just a bit unfortunate that we live opposite a breakers yard so you can see the cars piled up.  The bright streak across the sky is the sun.  The black is the lead lining type pattern in the windows.  The way the the circular can deforms the picture is also really nice.