STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - Seventy or so photo enthusiasts gathered at the Alice Austen House Sunday, joining their counterparts around the world to make old-school photographs using the simplest form of camera, the pinhole, on the 15th annual Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day.
This international event promotes and celebrates the art of pinhole photography by encouraging individuals to participate in the creative act of making a pinhole photograph, to share their artistic vision, and to help spread the unusual beauty of a historical photographic process.
The event, the only official one of its type in New York City, catered to all ages. Among the participants were 4-year-old Liam Ferguson, of St. George, and 88-year-old Bill Fink, of Brooklyn, both of whom took their very first pinhole photographs.
Each photographer was handed a pinhole camera, made from a paint can, loaded with photographic paper. They were then able to get the experience of taking a photo and processing it in the darkroom, a converted shipping container sponsored by New York Container Terminal and J & J Towing.
The finished photographs that ranged from self and family portraits to artsy images of the Alice Austen House or the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge were then scanned and uploaded to the WPPD website to share with the rest of the world.
In addition to making images or just hanging out for a picnic on the lawn, participants had the opportunity to talk with photographer Michael Falco and see the cameras he used for his Civil War 150 Pinhole Project.