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A lot happens over 2000 days. The result is a selection of exposures
of the old coming down |
![]() December 2010 - June 2011 |
5
years of 6 month exposures |
![]() June 2012 - December 2012 (The beauty of water damage) |
![]() The only can of cider exhibited in any hospital in the world! |
![]() Fading negative number 1 |
The exhibition consists of: 12
x 6 month exposure images from June 2009 - July 2015
After 6 months the 'camera blocks' were found on their backs. Luckily I had positioned several other cameras around the area so the exhibition began its 5 year evolution. Every equinox, Dec 20th or June 20th, old cameras were replaced with new ones. Midsummer to midwinter to midsummer. The resulting images show a continuous exposure in 6 month exposures over five years. A record of the Sun over the hospital every day from June 2010 to July 2015. The images in the exhibition are accompanied by their negatives which, due to the unfixed nature of the technique, will fade and disappear forever after a few days. This is the same thing that occurred with the very first photographs, the process Humphrey Davy and Thomas Wedgwood invented in Bristol in 1802. The impermanence of these images meant they could only be viewed by candle light. Impermanence of time is integral to Southmead hospital where 'arrivals' and 'departures' for the people of Bristol result in emotional times which affect everyone and are embraced by the people who work at Southmead with care to all who require it.
Unsurprisingly a pinhole photography project doesn't rank as a significant priority in a £430 million build of a hospital! Even with this taken into account I was still allowed onto the roof and to position cameras in places others fear to tread.
Difficulties:
Failed
ideas:
Successful
ideas:
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![]() Installed Camera |
|
Photographer in action! |
1/30th of a second - three kittens in a basket isn't really my thing. Not knowing what will happen is one of the reasons we are alive and the main reason I took up pinhole photography 25 years ago.
How
to take a 6 month exposure image
Most of the cameras
were made from beer cans containing a sheet of light sensitive photographic
paper. These were cable tied high up pointing south towards the sun. (The 'correct'
height is 'higher than a drunk can reach on another person's shoulders'!).
After 6 months the cameras are taken down and the image which appears on the
photographic paper is scanned on a computer scanner. The original negative is
kept in a light tight box to prevent it fading.
The digital image is then inverted into a positive and printed.
Full instructions to make these cameras can be found here: