Pinhole Camera Works From Colorado

I lived in the beautiful state of Colorado from 1996 until 2019. I made quite a few exposures while I was there with the pinhole camera. Additionally, I used a Linhof 4 x 5 view camera. I also used a Deardorf 8 x 10.

I was working with alternative photographic processes then. Those are printing processes other than standard black and white, and color. Those processes required hand preparation of the photosensitive chemicals. Also, the medium (generally specialty paper) had to be hand coated. Those type of prints were not enlargements, they were contact printed using the sun or a strong artificial light. I am creating a page just for those images.

Contact prints are made by sandwiching the negative between glass and a backing. The prints are then exposed by the sun or a strong electric light. I loved working in alternative processes like Van Dyke Brown and Kallitype. I was capable of doing so, because I had space for a darkroom.

After a move in 2004 I no longer had a darkroom space, so I began using a digital camera. I was constantly wishing I was able to use the pinhole camera again. So, I began using 4 x 5” color transparency film. That made a beautiful positive image with amazingly good color rendition! It was expensive, so I only used it on a limited basis. I made color images until 2014, which was the end of that period of working with the pinhole camera. I put the pinhole camera to rest until November 2025.

In early November of this year I got the bug to play with film again. I have a 1909 3A Kodak camera that was my grandfather’s. The film for it is no longer available, so using adapters I tried to substitute modern film. That did not have a happy ending. I had to use a specialty lab to process that film. It came to me that since I was having film lab developed, why not resume working with the pinhole camera? So, I got it out, bought 4 x 5 film, and made four exposures. When I got them back from the lab I was quite happy with the results!

This led to a new dilemma, and that was the cost of lab development. I was posed with the question of how to develop my own film. I ordered a JOBO tank and a film reel. But, once I received it I knew that was not the solution. After doing more research I found a developing tank for 4 x 5” film. It was a simple manual device, and I was skeptical of it. But, seeing no other reasonable choice, I decided to buy it. It and it has worked well.

I do not have a darkroom to make prints now. Instead, I work the images digitally and print with a Canon Pro 310 printer. It uses archival inks on archival paper. Their life expectancy is around 200 years. I hope to create a darkroom space in my bathroom for alternative processes. This will allow me to print in Van Dyke Brown. I also want to print in Kallitype again. For now, I will continue to scan and use Photoshop to get positive images from the negatives.