editor's notes from Without Lenses

July 23, 2008 Editor's Notes

Erin Malone — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 06:35:50 GMT

This issue marks a year of bringing Without Lenses to you. Over the last year, I have talked to so many wonderful and interesting photographers. The personal stories and work provide inspiration and ideas for me and I hope for you, dear readers, as well. I am eager to bring more of your work to this wonderful community and welcome story ideas, as well as proposals for showcasing your work. Don't be shy; let me know about your work and what drives you to make pinhole or other lensless work. In May/June I attended the 2nd f295 symposium in Pittsburgh and met so many wonderful alternative and lensless photographers. It was extremely energizing and inspiring. I am in the middle of interviewing Jesseca Ferguson and will be bringing you her images and thoughts on her work in the next issue. The symposium was even better this year than last and Tom Persinger has great plans for a diverse set of offerings for 2009. This summer has been full of excitement for me personally. I quit my job at the giant corporation—primarily to ease the commute time (2+ hours a day) and to give myself more time for making lensless images, and will be starting a new consulting firm in August. To top it all off, I had my work featured on KQED's Quest program this week. The video clip of my piece is published here. I am always eager to tell people about the wonderful qualities of being a pinhole and zoneplate photographer. Here's to a productive and image filled summer for you all. Enjoy issue #5.

March 17, 2008 :: Editor's Notes

Erin Malone — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 05:07:20 GMT

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. ...................... 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.

November 30, 2007 :: Letter from the Editor

Erin Malone — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 22:36:38 GMT

It's been a busy fall full of making images, prepping quite a bit of work for several juried shows—most of the work pinhole—and hanging my first solo show. It's small and in a cafe, but it's mine alone and it took quite a bit of work printing and framing the images. In between being obsessed with my own work, and starting to think about the holidays, I have the pleasure of bringing you this issue of Without Lenses. Issue #3 features an article by Benjamin Wooten about his experience with the New Orleans Kid Camera Project where the kids not only made pinhole images, but created their own cameras and painted them. The images are wonderful and the story is a testament to the power that children have to find joy even in the worst of situations. We also bring you an interview with the photographer, Nancy Breslin, whom I met last year at the f295 Symposium. She shares with us a long term, continuing, project featuring a range of images made while dining out in all kinds of situations. Our How To article this issue comes from Jan Kapoor. She shares her process for making image positives from wet contact negatives. This simple, straight-forward process is something anyone with a dark room and a safe light can do. No enlarger needed. Lastly, we have added a Books section—a store from Amazon—to offer books by featured artists and related pinhole books and a Subscribe Now link to the homepage. This will let you subscribe to an announcement list to get an email each time the site is updated. I promise, we won't sell your email address or send spam. We hope you enjoy this issue. Erin editor in chief, publisher, Without Lenses

August 2007 :: Editor's Notes

Erin Malone — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 06:08:51 GMT

Welcome to Issue #2 of Without Lenses. This quarter brings a host of new interviews, the start of our technical article series and new features courtesy of our new content management system—Public Square. Our two interviews are with a representative of the Pinhole Camp at the Burning Man festival which begins August 27th and with Lou Kreuger, a professor at Bowling Green University, who creates the most interesting dioramas and custom cameras for capturing these spaces. The technical series kicks off with a basic how-to and a more complex look at making filters on the cheap. These articles are brought to us through the generosity of our technical editor, Tom Persinger, and the f295 forum members who have written these articles. Look for one or two of these technical pieces on a monthly basis. Lastly, the switch over to our content management system—a feat that has taken the bulk of the last 3 months—brings a host of new community tools. You can now rate and review articles. You can submit story ideas directly into the system and rate ideas submitted by other readers. We will use this forum for deciding what ideas to pursue. Additionally, all readers who contribute reviews or articles, earn reputation, can create a brief bio and link to their own work and basically own their words in the context of this venue. We hope these new features help provide for some lively discussion about the articles, help find new talent to feature, foster authorship and generally spread the ownership of Without Lenses to you, the readers. We hope you enjoy this issue. Erin editor in chief, publisher, Without Lenses