One of the many qualities of pinhole photography is its
ability to capture time durations of beyond our vision. Usually
this is in the range of a few seconds, but by combining old and new
technologies, it is possible to achieve exposures of far greater duration.
I have always been fascinated with astronomy, its immense scales of
space and time reaching far beyond comprehension within our own short
instances on Earth.
The
project was to record views of Bristol, with the sun trailing across
the sky from the winter solstice (22nd December) to the summer solstice
(the 20th of June). The technique is not new. Several people are currently
doing similar work. Paolo Gioli in Italy and Tarja Trygg in Finland
are both experts in this area. I just wanted my hometown of Bristol
to be imaged in this way. Accessible wonder is all the reason I need.
Most
of the cameras survived 6 months of wind, rain, hail (and being thrown
in the bin!). Several were blank; one was full of water, (the emulsion
on the photographic material having floated off.) and one, still exposing,
currently sits inaccessibly under 10 foot of bramble, waiting forever
to be recovered.
