Build a Camera

Technological advances are the driving force behind modern photography. Like most technologies, what was top of the line just two years ago is now virtually obsolete. What is touted today as a ‘game-changer’ or the pinnacle of what is possible, will like its predecessors be out paced by the next technological advance. I recently read a blog post interview on A Photo Editor talking about a new Red Camera, the Epic which is claimed to be a revolutionary breakthrough in imaging technology. And yet if you visit their website, on the right side of the screen is yet another camera that is coming soon. It never ends. We photographers are in a perpetual chase of the newest, biggest and fastest. And guess what, the companies producing these cameras don’t care about your art or your craft they are after obsolescence. It’s a plastic world in the original sense of the word; changeable, malleable and fast.

I challenge you to build a pinhole camera out of cardboard. Here’s a link to how to do it. I guarantee the process will make you look at photography in a different light and you’ll be more attached to the results than any of the iPhone images you took this week.

https://sdsu-physics.org/assets/PDFs/oatmeal_pinhole_camera.pdf