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Brooklyn Solargraphy

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Awhile back, I came across an interesting form of photography online – Solargraphs. Basically, they’re tiny pinhole cameras that you expose continuously over 6 months to get surreal images, complete with arcs across the sky left by the sun in transit.

Obviously I had to try this out. During a trip to Brooklyn last spring I left 12 solargraph pinhole cameras hidden around the city. I tried to place them in places where they wouldn’t be disturbed for 6 months – I knew I wouldn’t find them all again but that was part of the adventure. Luckily, I found 10 of them when I returned in August!

But, before you get excited, I have some bad news: my first attempt didn’t go so well. It worked, but only kinda – the whole process is so full of guesswork that I ended up with severely underexposed images, like the one below. Yes, they’re still pretty neat, but not what I was hoping to get…

More shots/details about the process after the jump!

Brooklyn Solargraph

A solargraph of a watertower in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Pretty underexposed – but notice the sun trails.

The good news is the process is easy and cheap, so I can easily go for round 2 (and I will be.) In fact, most of the camera is reusable!

All you need to make a camera is an old 35mm film canister (the solid kind, the clear ones aren’t good for this), some b/w photo paper (which acts as the ‘film’ in the camera), an empty soda can and some tape. And I guess a pin. I got a ton of free film cans just asking around at local photo labs, so the only real cost here is the photo paper.

First you need to make the actual pinhole. You could probably just push a pin through the side of a film canister – but the directions I followed recommended cutting a square out of the side of the canister, and then cutting a piece of aluminum off the soda can, and then taping that inside the canister where you cut the square out. Then, you can just put a pinhole in that aluminum square. I’m assuming this is because it’s way easier to make a tiny hole in the soda can material than the plastic canister.

Then you just need to cut strips of b/w photo paper just large enough that they can fit in the can without blocking the pinhole. Since you’re not using color paper, you can do this under a red film light. Then, you put the paper in the canister, tape the cap on really well, and then put a piece of tape over the pinhole until you’re read to shoot.

Solargraph Pinhole Camera

Here’s a completed solargraph pinhole camera. I sharpied the soda can part black, so it’s hard to see, but if you stare right at the middle you’ll see where the pinhole is. I covered the whole camera in black tape to keep light out and weather proof it.

Then, you just anchor them in an outdoor spot, preferably aimed at the sun, in such a way that they won’t move for 6 months, and then remove the tape over the pinhole. Where they’re placed really affects exposure, and it’s hard to measure, so just try to put them somewhere bright that gets a lot of natural light during the day.

Solargraph in Brooklyn

One of the pinhole cameras attached (with zip ties and lots of tape) to the base of a satellite dish on a roof in Downtown Brooklyn

Brooklyn Solargraph

This is the solargraph that resulted from the above setup on the roof

The process of getting the image off the film once the exposure is done is interesting – you basically need to use a flatbed scanner, which will digitize the image but will also destroy it in the process. So you only get a couple of chances to scan it. You can open the cans in a darkish (but it doesn’t need to be completely dark) room, position them on the scanner, and go for it. Then, in photoshop, it’s just a matter of inverting the negative, and adjusting the levels as needed.

Solargraph Pinhole Camera

Here’s another pinhole camera, attached to a fence in Williamsburg

Brooklyn Solargraph

Here is the resulting shot of the above camera set up in Williamsburg

Anyway – I’ll be trying this again soon so look forward to seeing new (hopefully properly exposed) images online soon. In the meantime here are the rest of the shots!

Brooklyn Solargraph

A shot of a Williamsburg intersection. Not entirely sure what caused the unusual light street on this one!

Brooklyn Solargraph

This one was rigged up on a fence looking out over a marsh in Greenpoint, facing Manhattan

Brooklyn Solargraph

This one was in Williamsburg, looking out directly at Manhattan’s skyline. Definitely the one I was most looking forward to..
Brooklyn Solargraph

Another one from the same roof in downtown Brooklyn

 


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