More wasted places

As part of my DOCUMENTARY on wasted places, I've done a few more

photographs.

 

<a href="http://westfordcomp.com/wasteplaces/waste12.html">

Gilbertville/Hardwick </a> Here's the project thus far.<a

href="http://westfordcomp.com/wasteplaces/"> Wasted places </a>

Very nice. What lead you to the pinhole + 120 film modus operandi?

Now this is what I consider to be a good example of documentary photography using a specific theme and image style.

 

I am doing some of this to document "Places of the Spirit:" churches, temples, cemeteries, artifacts, people-of-the-Spirit in a gatherings, and so on.

 

I am using digital, Holgas, Brownie Hawkeyes, and anything else that might convey the theme appropriately.

 

Attached is a Holga image: "Lady of the Night"<div></div>

Hi Scott

 

The 120 pinhole I made is very light and produces good sized negatives. Smaller pinhole/film sizes are fine but detail is really at a minimum (not that my shots are loaded with detail !)

 

I sometimes use a 4x5 field camera with a homemade pinhole lens but I find I never use correcting movements. Why bother with a pinhole ?

 

Thanks for the comments.

I like your "places of the spirit" idea. I'm fond of church photographs too.<div></div>

The pinhole look really suits these subjects, I think maybe because it's something like "distressed" furniture.

 

Perhaps that's something to bear in mind as the world rushes to digital -- although you can (if you have the skills) achieve the look with digital, there's something to be said for using a suitable medium.

Is there a reason for seemingly not employing any post processing? Auto levels in PS knocks out the overall grey tone of these images.

"Is there a reason for seemingly not employing any post processing?"

 

There are in fact, two reasons for not employing digital post processing.

 

1. I like the "grey look" of the shots. It contributes to the overall depressing mood of the photos.

 

2. See reason number 1.

 

I don't think that every B&W photograph needs to cover zones 0 - 10. Not every B&W photo has to look like A.A. did it with an 11x14 view camera.

 

Maybe I should have done these in color and not worried about those pesky greys.

"Not every B&W photo has to look like A.A. did it with an 11x14 view camera."

 

Yes, I would agree with that, I'm partial to a higher contrast look myself. Just curious really, most of the pinhole stuff I see is grey, just wondered if it was part of the pinhole aesthetic to not mess with the images too much.

Jamie;

 

"Just curious really, most of the pinhole stuff I see is grey, just wondered if it was part of the pinhole aesthetic to not mess with the images too much."

 

I suspect many pinhole practitioners, myself included, have their challenges in regards to getting good tonal range from the resulting negatives, due no doubt to extended exposure times and reciprocity failure.

 

If the light's too contrasty, you have an almost litho-like, extreme contrast print with no middle tones; in soft light you have the opposite problem, along with extended exposure times. I noticed many of Gene's fine images were shot in soft lighting conditions, such as high overcast.

 

However, your supposition may be correct; to pinholers, the process is just as important as the results. Its something about the philosophy of unimpeded light forming an image. To subsequently mess with it goes against the purity of the image formation process.

 

I appreciate Gene's intent to use soft, subdued tones to convey a mood to his subjects. There are other schools of influence that can inform our work besides the wide zone, full-tone approach, common to scenic photography.

Attached is a pinhole photo I took which I'm including in my documentation of "Places of the Spirit." Different lighting conditions can give pinhole images different ranges of contrast.<div></div>

Gene,

 

In your church photo you have that rare "black sun" which Ansel Adams achieved only once, to the best of my knowledge.

 

The low road angle leads up to the church with the sun blazing...awesome spiritual image! The tilted angle expesses the uncertainty of the religious experience. I think you should work on a series of these "documentary" images with pinhole, and show us your progress.

 

The late great photographer, Minor White, worked with what he called "sequences" in a documentary format.

 

I think that when we want to demonstrate documentary photography on this forum, or anywhere else, we should be allowed to do so in a "sequence" of related images to "tell the story," with appropriate discussion, of course.

 

Documentary Photography is much different from Street Photography. I much prefer a series of documentary images, in the walker Evens genre, that tells a story, rather than one random street photo of someone sucking a lillipop! (^0^)

 

Just my opinion.

Really like the series. My favorites are the ones that blur the most around the edges and

have serious vignetting. They really emphasize the subject. Some even look like old

tintypes, which kind of adds a bit of irony. I agree that the greyness does add to the

depressing feel of the images. It would be a real misrepresentation to create high drama

with light and shadow, if what you want to show is the cold, empty, wasted presence of

the place. Keep going with the series, and chime in on this forum from time to time.

Kudos.

Gene,

I like this series, and I think using pinhole is a good approach as it gets at the sense

of time that one often feels at such sites. Cool that you got the "black sun" effect in

the image with the church. That doesn't always happen with pictures that include the

disk of the sun. These places are not "wasted" on you.

I'm delighted to have you guys provide so much feedback. It's great to have an experienced audience.