Welcome to the 4th issue of Without Lenses.
This issue features our first featured artist gallery showcasing the work of Japanese pinhole photographer Noriko Ohba. Look for a featured gallery in upcoming issues. We also spoke with several of the folks who make the cameras many of us use and love. Eric Renner and Nancy Spencer of Pinhole Resource, Jim Kosinski of Merlin Paintcan Cameras, and Chris Peregoy of Pinhole Blender all spoke with us about how they make their cameras, what prompted them to start selling and their thoughts on the future of pinholing. Our how-to article this issue teaches how to create precision drilled pinholes.
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Hard to believe almost a year has passed and plans are in the making for the 2nd f295 Symposium and our anniversary issue, bringing in year 2.
A precursor to the symposium was the recent f295 Seminar held at B&H Photo Video in New York City this past January. Tom Persinger, the driving force behind f295 forums and the Symposium, put this “teaser†day together and had several of the speakers who will be presenting at the Symposium share short talks showcasing their work at the seminar.
The day was packed with 8 speakers—including an intro to the day by Tom. 15-20 minute presentations were jam packed with slides of each artist’s current work and a bit about their process followed by questions from the audience. The day started out with an overflow of attendees packed into a room which generally only holds about 75. The event was free and people came and went based on their particular interests (i.e. alternative process or a specific artist).
The work ranged from pinhole photos that are then collaged into assemblages with old book parts and text (Jesseca Ferguson), to pinhole daguerrotypes (Jerry Spagnoli), to collodian wet plate portraits (Jill Enfield), to firefly photograms (Scott McMahon) to cyanotyope handmade books (Laura Blacklow) to an overview of this magazine (me), to ocean side mysterious pinholes (Martha Casanave).
The day flew by and left most of the audience wanting to know more—both about the artist’s and their motivations and about the processes they work in. The backdrop of a bustling, Sunday shopping day at B&H, rounded out the experience.
As mentioned above, this day was put together as a teaser for the symposium where some of the same artists will have longer presentations or will be conducting workshops in their alternative process specialty. If the day in NY was any indication, the symposium weekend should prove to be interesting, educational and a terrific venue for sharing work and ideas with colleagues and for making new friends.