Pinhole Photography - "Operational context"

 Do not copy - add images to your responses.                                                (Updated 28/6/24)

Pinhole Photography as Fine Art.

Pinhole Photography is a viable method of either earning money or supplementing your income as a photographer. Evidence for this can be seen on the Saatchi website here https://www.saatchiart.com/all/pinhole there are numerous examples with a range of different approaches – colour and black and white as well as digital examples. Some of the work is very traditional and conventional and readily seen as being pinhole Photography with the characteristics expected to be seen. Other examples on the Saatchi website require far more investigation as to how they’ve been shot if they’re being presented as Pinhole Photography as some of the work doesn’t exhibit the expected features. Use the Saatchi website and examples of it in your work. Use the prompts here (The blue ones) to generate your written responses.

The work seen on the Saatchi website isn’t generally known to the wider population. It’s pretty safe to say that the types of people that know of it, have - either an art education background or work in the field of buying, supplying and trading in art works/Photography. Ask around among your family and friends – do they know of it and if they do how?

Looking at Pinhole Photography – especially traditional Pinhole Photography – do you think it has a broad appeal? Maybe show your friends and family and see what they make of it, show them the prices too? Is their response based on their understanding of what makes ‘Good’ Photography? Does this suggest things about their demographic perception of art and Photography?

Pinhole Photography as Editorial Photography

Editorial Photography is the type of photography seen traditionally in magazines and more frequently now on websites. Editorial photography is frequently shot in a 'Speculative' manner, you have an idea for some pictures that suits a certain website or magazine and you either use existing images you may have, or you shoot images specifically for the magazine/website and then you approach the magazine/websites editors asking if they'd be interested in using your images.

The fees for such publications are sometimes published in resources such as "Brad" other than that it's a case of negotiating directly with the editors. The rates of pay are for 'Pages' or half pages and if you get covers in the case of magazines payment is higher. You can supplement your earnings by providing the accompanying 'Copy' e.g. the written text that forms the article that goes with your images.

In the case of Pinhole Photography, you'd have to think about your audience and demographic. You'd almost certainly be wasting your time sending your work or contacting publications such as the Daily Mail, Sun, Express, Daily Star as their readers are highly unlikely to be interested in alternative photography, you've only got to look at their comments pages to get a sense of their appreciation of 'Art' and alternative or methods of approaching art/Photography, whereas if you look at papers such as The Guardian, The Observer, The Financial Times, and to a lesser extent The Telegraph you'll see that there is far greater appreciation of art and Photography. Look at these papers and compare with the others and make your own mind up with regards the types of people who read these publications and speculate with regards their demographic make-up. It might take further research to get a sense of their readership and their class/wealth/education status.

The papers listed above have 'Weekend supplements' that include glossy magazines along with websites and it's these parts of the papers that might be interested in a well written and shot article about Pinhole Photography.

Other potentially more obvious markets would be Art, Photography websites and magazines. Again with regards to your explanations with regards the audience and demographic speculate or research their demographic make-up - what kind of people use these magazines and websites and do they form a certain type of group with collective characteristics. 

Pinhole Photography - Book & CD/DVD Covers (Editorial)

One example that you're recommended to focus on and write about in your research, is the potential to use Pinhole Photography to produce images that might suit Book covers or CD/DVD covers...

Research the theme yourself (Google) Pre-fix the words 'book covers' with "Creepy, Sinister, Scary, horror" or similar and look at the images and you'll some of them rely on the images being vague and indistinct and this helps to convey the sense of being 'Sinister/Scary' etc. Look at your pinhole image research and you might see that a lot of the pinhole images have characteristics that lend themselves to potentially producing images that would serve this purpose/audience/client base.

Similarly look at the CD and DVD covers of bands that have similar dark aura about them. Again, use Google to search  "Creepy, Sinister, Scary, horror" as pre-fixes before CD or DVD cover. Again comment in your written work about the suitability of Pinhole for this purpose. 

Teaching Pinhole Photography

There's a big demand within the 'Arts and crafts' world and within the 'Alternative' Photography' arena for learning how to make Pinhole cameras, use them and make pictures. In the UK there are thousands of art societies and camera clubs that have basic darkroom facilities that they're looking to use and these people have budgets to spend on visiting lecturers. Similarly, if you have the space as a photographer at your house or you can hire a space when needed, you can promote and organise your own seminars and workshops introducing people to Pinhole photography. 

One of the lecturers that worked here and introduced me to Pinhole Photography works in this way... https://www.facebook.com/wigsayellartist/?locale=en_GB

Higher level plans and reflections

 Producing plans and reflections at higher levels

https://www.lcwaikiki.eg/en-US/EG/category/women/sportswear-c47

This post has some suggestions as to how you might produce your work up to a much higher standard if you're looking to attain the higher grades with specific ideas and examples relating to far more detail. 

The example is based on shooting fashion images in the studio...

 

In terms of what you need to record in your plans and reflect on in your reflections, the focus should be the following...

(1). What type of photography it is your producing - what could it be used for - what is your intention? Identify the audience in terms of demographic make-up. Identify where you might see the types of images you produce... magazines, websites, brochures, point of sale material, bus stops (Adshel) etc? Who might the client be for the type of images you shoot. All these points should be a part of your plans from this point onwards for all of your projects. 

(2). Once you've added your images to your design sheets, look back at these points above and reflect in the analysis section on whether you have achieved your intention. So your plan might have said... 

I'm shooting in the college studio on 5/1/24 at 11.00 - 13.00 with my model 'Mick' . The images are going to be shot with soft diffuse light against a white background, predominantly in a fashion style - full length, but I will try different compositions. I'll shoot almost exclusively portrait format as the expectation will be these are destined to be used in a magazine page. But I might shoot landscape for use in a centre spread or for screen use on a PC/Laptop. 

Mick is 20 years old and he's going to be wearing his own clothes which are 'high-street' with no particular attention on a specific brand, so they'll not be 'Advertising'  in the pure form which normally focuses on one product from one brand. My images will be more in-line with an editorial approach, with a range of brands from high-street shops. So these images are hopefully going to look like the types of images you might see on the ASOS website or similar, maybe in stores such as ASDA and Tesco used in their point of sale (Posters). Because of Micks age and the images intended use I reckon the target market will be all young people between the age of 15 - 25 from new affluent workers, traditional working class, emergent service workers. 

In terms of where the images might be seen in hard-copy form in the magazines you see on the tills as Asda and similar super-markets. The clients in which case that might be interested in such images shot in this way, would be super-markets such as Tesco, Asda, Marks & Spencer and any lower to mid range retailer who sell their clothes using clean white backgrounds that do not evoke or communicate any sense of wealth required to access their products. 

I'll be using digital media, using my own Canon 450D. I'll be shooting large JPEG files with RAW files as a back-up in the event the images need any post production adjustments. If I was shooting for real and getting paid I'd probably shoot on two cards and have an assistant check the images on a PC checking each card at different phases of the shoot to check the cards weren't failing.

I'll be using the lens at 55mm - unless I get experimental, in which case because I'm aware of the lens barrel extension factor, I'd make adjustments (Problem solving) to the exposure checking that it's consistent. I'd imagine I'd have o make adjustments of about 1/2 to a full stop dependent on the chosen focal length. In fact as this is just a test shoot in this case I might do this as a test to figure out how much difference is made when using the camera at a focal length of 35mm.

I'm going to use at least 3 lights as per the lighting plan below, but I'm going to keep an open mind about adding more or perhaps using less once I get started as this is an experimental shoot. The frontal lighting will be diffused through large diffusion screen 6'x4' and the 3rd light a soft box from above. The overall feel I'm going for is bright and even soft diffuse light, but I might try and experiment with black boards either side of the model to give edges to the skin and reduce how flat the images might be. Overall the approach and look I'm looking for is the type of shots you see on the ASOS website (See examples below) 

I'll probably shoot hand held... ISO 200, F8 or F11 at 1/125 using Flash white balance. This set up will give me good depth of field and at 200 no noticeable reduction in quality and potentially good enough for Adshel use? Problem? Maybe I should look to shoot at 100 iso in view that I've suggested the use on this scale? 

My assistant will be Lee Hey. If in the event that Mick the model doesn't turn up that problem can be resolved by using Lee as the model instead and it'll just have to be the clothes he has on and he'll just have to style it out with the poses. The plan will be to get the images off the card and into my One Drive the same day and then narrow the shots down to about 20 shots to be used in my design sheets. I've also then got to narrow the 20 down to 10 of the best for use in the 2nd year, so another folder needs to be produced for that use. I reckon I should have that all done by Tuesday night leaving the following days to write up a detailed reflection.

Following this plan I'd then have...

(1). Health and safety issues/observations and contingencies. Images of H&S issues.

(2). The scan of my checklist I'd used for getting ready for this shoot

(3). The floor plan drawing

(4). My reference image (What my lighting and idea is based on) 

(5). My 'Go-see' images of Mick done before the shoot

(6). Wide shots of the set with explanations

(7). Images of my Assistant in action with explanations of their role and what they did to help and why they were useful. 

(8). Scan of a model release and an explanation of its use

(9). Look book or pose reference images and explanations of how they're used. (Example below)

Following all those parts of the work, I'd then try and fill two pages showing a good cross range of what I'd done with some minimal use of annotation. For me using the layout I use in the examples I'd be looking to use around 18 images - enough to fill 2 pages with just images. Following this if there was any Photoshop work, I'd have screen grabs showing what I'd learned along with annotations detailing why I had made the adjustments and making sure I identified that aspect as problem solving to improve the communication aspects - e.g. communicate professionalism, in terms of a slick and high-quality final outcome. 

The penultimate section would be a selection of portfolio style shots anything from 2 up to 6.

The final part would be a Mega-Reflection - looking back at all these points reflecting and analysing what I'd learned from the shoot, what I'd done wrong and what I'd do next time to improve. Importantly - evaluate your work in terms of your long term progression goals - do you feel that what you've produced is going to be useful to you in relation to going to University or becoming a photographer - explain why and how?  I'd also have a section where I went over each of the criteria and analyse whether the work I'd produced addressed each of them and to what extent.

In your analysis ask these question below and respond/justify. 

1. Did my research inform my ideas, is there a clear connection between what I researched and what I've produced. Have I used critical analysis skills in the plans and the reflection? Have I shown a thorough understanding of Industry and the work of others? AC1 Informing ideas.
2. Is my idea coherent and does the idea come to fruition and have I done this in a confident and organised way. Looking back at this work and all the previous shoots is it evident that I've experimented and tested a range of approaches, techniques and ideas? With my own shoot have demonstrated a considered idea - explain and justify. Have I reflected on all the previous shoots and shown a sustained and critical approach to using reflective practice? In my work including this final one (Especially) do the final images align with the intended meaning and purpose - have I completed what I intended to do - have I said my images are going to be A,B and C and have I achieved that goal, is this explained and justified and critically analysed? Do my images have a function and is it realistic? AC2 Problem solving
3. Have I used an approach where my selection of techniques, materials, equipment and media combine to produce good final images that have an intended purpose and meaning. Do I demonstrate through the records of my activities that I understand the impact on the images regarding these choices/selections? Have I shown that I've been able to exploit my choices to meet my intentions? Is technical competence sustained throughout these tasks - especially with regards to my own independently shot work - Justify and explain? AC3 Technical skills
4. Have I shown throughout the work - especially with regards my own independent work an understanding and use of professional practice skills, behaviours and approaches and have these been applied throughout the production of my work and do they inform my project e.g. have have I put them into practice? If so, where and how and to what extent? AC4 Professional practice
5. Have I demonstrated that I'm able to communicate meaning, purpose and function in relation to my intention and audience. In my plan (Independent work especially) did I clearly set out my intentions, audience, client and the potential end use of my work? Did this come together - are my final images fit for purpose and would they appeal to their audience and might they suit the client? What are the images communicating - is the vibe right in terms of their intended use? Is my final presentation of the images suitable in terms of my progression goals, does the presentation look suitable, slick and of the standard required for my intended next stages - explain and justify. Have I saved my files and used a process to recall and use again for future use in a portfolio to enable enhanced communication to a variety of audiences - University/Employment - explain and justify. AC5 Communication. 

You might at this point be starting to realise (Hopefully) that your plans and reflections are key parts of your work.😬

https://www.anothermag.com/art-photography/10390/when-juergen-teller-photographed-1990s-go-sees