A pinhole camera is a very simple device, constructed from any container which can be made light tight - from a matchbox up to a large room. It has no lens and relies on a small hole to focus light onto a screen of some kind. It evolved from the camera obscura, which literally means 'dark room', a device used by 17th century artists striving to correct perspective in their work. They worked with projected images, tracing what they saw.
In addition to some form of 'body' the camera also requires a thin 'plate' of some kind with a 'pinhole' to act as a lens. This can be anything from card to metal, but the crisper the hole, the sharper the image created.
This image then needs to be captured on some medium, usually either paper or film. Depending on the material used, exposure times can be long. If it is paper, time can often be measured in hours. With film, exposure times are usually much lower and can be less than a second in bright sunlight.
Having spent many years working digitally, which can produce incredibly sharp and precise images, Paul wanted to produce something much softer and less technical in approach. Inspired by the early pigment/platinum prints by Edward Steichen, Paul has used a pinhole camera to revisit the most basic form of photography. This calls for more reliance on instinct and creative vision than technology to produce the required image.
Working with a pinhole camera can be difficult as there is no viewfinder, which means the photographs are more spontaneous and almost uncomposed. The often necessary long exposures mean that images feature more movement and reflect the passage of time more vividly. This back to basics approach demands a completely different way of working.
The resulting colour and monochrome landscape images have a beautiful ethereal appearance, but at the same time are dark and sombre. The lack of a lens means there is a softness which resembles some 19th century work, but the images are from a very much contemporary viewpoint.
The variety of images which can be produced with a pinhole camera is enormous and depends on exactly which materials are used and how the 'camera' is put together. It is this breadth of effects that has captured Paul’s imagination.
A portfolio of six images from the Wisley series' was recognised with two awards in the 2008 International Garden Photographer of the Year competition.
See book from the exhibition at Los Balcones del Califa:
