Absolute Zero

It was Worldwide pinhole photography day on saturday. I'm a big fan of low tech cameras and it doesn't come much lower tech than something which is literally a box with a hole in it. Diehard pinholers (like the hugely inventive Justin Quinnell who makes them small enough to go in his mouth) make the cameras themselves, but I've got a Zero 2000, a teak and brass beauty made by Hong Kong craftsman Zernike Au. It's such a gorgeous object that it's a work of art in itself. Modern digital cameras more or less guarantee perfect results but a pinhole forces you to slow down and think. The Zero 2000 doesn't have a viewfinder and exposures are calculated by guesswork or handheld meter (in my case an ancient Weston Master). It's very refreshing to use a pinhole after blasting away all day with a DSLR. You never know if you'll have anything worth printing, but that's part of the fun.



(I missed pinhole day - I was beer tasting with me brother - so here's a Zero 2000 image from a trip to Instow a couple of weeks back)