Pinhole Photographs

Pinhole Photographs provide unique opportunites for exploring the passage of time through still photographic images whose compositions are left largely to chance and the relative experience of the photographer.

The subtle distortions created by lack of focus, blurred movement, and edge vignetting often conspire to draw the viewer deeper into the image with the promise of something more to be revealed beyond the surface.

I believe that, in many ways, the simple nature of pinhole photographs can renew our sense of wonder and enjoyment of the world and allow us to open ourselves to unusual experiences.

For example...while photographing the August 2017 solar eclipse

with my 8x10 Kodak Master View camera, I was surprised to look down to see hundreds of fluttering natural pinhole images of the "crescent sun" projected onto the ground all around me through the spaces between the leaves of trees surrounding my yard.

The impact of this simple natural phenomenon stuck with me for days, and remains a potent, visceral memory of that experience in a way that the images from my 8x10 camera can never acheive.

These particular images explore the northern Columbia River shoreline of Sauvie Island where seasonal flooding, tidal cycles, and intensely focused wave action created by ocean-going vessels create an increasingly dynamic enviroment.