Random Thoughts

"Dying Grass Moon" - cyanotype on Canson watercolor paper

During September and October, I will be exhibiting a collection of long-exposure pinhole photographs in the Allenton Gallery at the Durham Arts Council in Durham, North Carolina.  These images were formed in homemade cameras, made from soup cans, cookie tins, paper board and other materials.  These cameras are then left outdoors; some overnight, some for up to six months.  The light they absorb records the path of the moon or sun across the sky.

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The February 20th night of the full moon was a special treat.  It included a total lunar eclipse.   I had built a pinhole camera to give me a full 180° image.  Its actually a single camera that holds three sheets of film in divided compartments.  I had tested the camera only once, using paper negatives, and it checked out OK.  On the evening of the full moon, I set it out on my deck.  Unfortunately, it was a partly cloudy night, and the clouds were rather thick the first few hours.  Then the clouds broke for most of the rest of the evening.  The eclipse started around 8 pm and continued until around midnight.  The eclipse is charted in the second image.  All three pinholes were open the entire night.  The azimuth was almost straight up, so the proper viewing of the prints would be to hold them over your head.

(click on image to see full size)

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