Projects

Welcome to my ginormous pinhole/miniature camera obscura project!

I believe that the measure of the beauty of a subject does not rely on those observing it. Beauty is something I can attempt to understand and even have a hand in creating, but not something I create from nothing, of my own accord. I think it is a concrete something which already exists and I am blessed to be able to participate and interact with it.

Once I realized (and am still realizing) that beauty is not a tool which I can manipulate or form, but that what is beautiful is what manipulates and forms me, did I really come to understand how powerful it is. That power is something I am learning to willingly to subject myself to. I think I am beginning to understand that the ones who understand beauty best are its humble servants.

The technical stuff: I made a miniature camera obscura out of a refrigerator box, lined the film plane wall with 12 rolls of color 35 mm (8 rolls of 400 ISO Fujifilm, and 4 rolls of 200 ISO) and set myself up inside the box for when I would take the photo. I wanted to participate in and observe every part of the process during this project, which is why you will see my profile from inside the box on the film. I pulled all the film out at once to act as a sort of giant roll of film to take the photos. After I had exposed the rolls, I wrapped them up in a light-tight bag and took them to the dark room, where I developed them. Then, I put all of the rolls in the correct order and taped them to the wall, placed light sensitive photo paper underneath the film, a piece of plexiglass over the film to press it flat, and exposed the paper with a standard enlarger which was set a few feet away on a counter top.



(click on images to enlarge)

The setup. Taping the rolls of film together and placing them on the back of the box

My wife modeling for me next to the tree and taking photos while I worked in the box.
Taking the photo only took about 5 seconds, but the setup once I was inside of the camera took about 45 minutes.

The Final Product

The following images were made as photographic illustrations as a storybook:

The hand of Truth demonstrates itself in an act of love which injures our individual humanity. Freedom is discovered through the same pain and difficulty which had been removed from society and we are left in a state of disequilibrium when the contrast between our previous cultural hegemony and the face of infinite beauty is realized.

We attempt to change the truth by altering our perception of it. When one truth is exaggerated, all others are distorted. We make beauty relative to our experience and in doing so blind ourselves to its entirety. Our perceptions are broken by a vision of judgement  and independent of our perception, through justice, truth and beauty are everlasting.

My dad started really getting into our family’s ancestry a few years ago. I’ve worked with him on a few genealogical research projects since then and it has taught me how much of an impact that even my great, great, great grandfather’s story has had on my own. Dad has this saying, that it’s his goal for every generation to build on the foundation of the previous one.

I’m enamored with how seamlessly God orchestrates the tunes of generations to continue to form and build new ones. I know that I can’t escape the impact my family history has had on my identity and I am proud of that. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what sort of foundation my wife and I are building for our up and coming family and how that will affect the identity of our children.

When I can see myself in my father and grandfather, and when I can see my wife in her mother and great-grandmother, it gives me a sense of peace. I can begin to visualize the future much more clearly when I gain the perspective of my ancestors.

(all three generations)

I used a medium format Holga, Kodak Tmax 400 and Fuji Portra 400. I developed the negatives, scanned them into a computer, and there adjusted the opacity of each layer to blend with the underlying layer.

In the summer of 2012 I was commissioned to shoot some of Indy's most iconic architectural features. Every photo was to be high enough resolution to print a 24X30 canvas wrap for a downtown Indy office space. Architectural work had been challenging for me up to this point and I really enjoyed the way this project stretched my mind to new possibilities. It gave me the chance to become close friends with a new camera: my first time shooting with the 5D mk II.