The Pinhole Revisited

Once upon a time I had this darkroom. Actually it was a shed. I inherited it from the old Vietnam vet that lived in my backyard. He was an interesting guy to say the least But that's another story in itself. Anyways, the darkroom. I had 3 pieces of tuperware, a metal bowl, a dark light, my camera flash, and a radio. Hell, I didn't even have a camera. I made my cameras from cardboard boxes, tin cans, anything I could find that I could make light tight. I would piece of photo paper inside and a tiny whole in the box. Take it outside, uncover the hole for a few minutes, dip it in some dangerous chemicals, don't wash it, just dip it in some water, and voila!You made the negative for a photo. To get a positive, put a piece of photo paper on the counter, put the negative on top, flash the flash against the wall on to your right (not the one on your left, or the one in front of you, you'll over expose it). It's magic! That was my first darkroom, kinda ghetto huh?

It wasn't until I went to photo school I learned how to use a real darkroom. While I was in school, I got pretty good with the pinhole. I even had a few photos hanging up in one of the galleries in Missoula. I recently dug out one of my old cameras, Mr Pinhole. I'm not really sure how or why it had a name. But for some reason "Mr Pinhole" has always been written on top of it. It's not my handwriting, so who knows. I did a few modifications to it, and now it has 130 degree angle of view. I took a few photos, nothing really all that exciting, a rabbit head, an old barn.

I was recently thinking about how dirty my old

darkroom was.There were chemicals everywhere. And they weren't your normal household chemicals. In doing some research, I came across a method to develop film with coffee and vitamin C. I also found a recipe for boiled mint leaf developer. I tried the coffee method, and it worked wonderfully. I found some old color film canisters I had laying around, Ihad no idea what was on them. Turns out it was some film from my old 3-D camera. Did I mention that I am also a camera collector. The coffee is a black and white developer, but i used a color film. That's why you get some of the funky colors.

So, that's my recent experiences with my pinhole cameras. I think I'm on to something with this coffee thing. I can't tell you yet though, it's kinda top secret. Maybe just a hint. It has to do with the camera, the developer, and the image all in one package. We'll see how it turns out.