Some notes about process: I have been taking pinhole camera photos. For some reason these images are compelling to me – they evoke more about place than painting, drawing, or my digital photos. I love their raw, unfinished quality. 

The cameras are made of coffee cans, paint, tape, and soda cans with a nut glued to the bottom so I can attach the can to my tripod. One camera takes one shot. It takes all morning to load the cameras, drive to the site, return to the darkroom at WCU, and develop the photos.  I later scan the photos and invert so I can see what the photo actually looks like. I love the surprise!  Then from the scan I can print a negative transparency to use for a cyanotype or a positive for a digital print or a transparency to expose a solar plate for an etching (a newer plate technology for an old print making process). 

I have done about 80 images with the pinhole cameras (I made 12 cameras). There is no lens, it is totally ‘point and shoot’, and every step of the process is an adventure, not the least of which is the site visit. The long exposure times – between 45 seconds and 2 minutes means I have to pay attention. The limited number of shots means I look really hard at the site. I never really know what I have until the moment when it ‘inverts’ on the computer. 

I have done several images as cyanotypes which are posted on the website.  I love the color and the painted quality of the edges.

You might ask why go to all this trouble? I have no idea but it seems like the right thing to do.