As it is the first time I'm posting a message, though I avidly read every messages of this list every morning (and learn a lot from it) before beginning to work. Let me introduce myself. My name is Jean-Louis Thiry and I'm a french graphic designer working in a hi-tech environment (I got addicted to the Macintosh thing 12 years ago, but before that all I did was done by hand and reflexion and of course by photographic process) which drove me to a lot of questions and changes. I needed a lo-tech activity to rediscover what was missing in my (long) day job : reflexion, nothing between my brain and my images except my hands and eyes and that's how i naturally came to the pinhole photography . In fact I began pinholing from nothing to refer to, only some childhood reminicences of how to make a photo with simply a hole in a shoe box. Then I discover I could get some nice images easily if I took the time to think about what I wanted to do and what I wanted to get (until then I thought that there were no photos existing aside the Nikon FM2). It's only after building two or three cameras and films holders that I discover that there were a lot of people sharing that interest ans ejoying it at whatever the level of use - from rough cardboard box to expensive large format cameras, computer digital work and more scientifics users. I must say that I learned more in the last few months about photos, camera, eye's vision, paper sensitivity and above all what can be unique in a photo than in the last thirty years. I build all my cameras, spend a lot of time (and no money) at it. Only made from cardboard and paper, I need them to be beautiful, clothed with nice and luxuous papers (I'm lucky enough to get a lot of samples from paper manufacturers) and as solid as wood boxes would be. If I get some good responses to the photos I just uploaded, I'll send some of my boxes. I love to build boxes and to find solutions for the shutter, the way to attach the film holder, to make the hole (printer's plate). I spend also a lot of time to experiment with the wide range of graphic art films and negative paper. What I knew before but became more important when I went to pinhole is the importance of the negative. A negative is a complete image and is NOT the contrary of what we see, rather something we CANNOT see. It is more evident for me when I handpaint - it would certainly be easier and faster with Photoshop but I don't want to - my negatives. The two photos I upload show a plaster dwarf on one with me (I am the tallest of both), and looking at the top of a ladder on the other. For the more technicals of you : negative papers 100 x 150 mm and focal length 185 mm, hole 0,51 mm/diam, etc enjoy, Forgive my english, ans happy new year to everyone
Jean-Louis http://www.???????/discussion/upload/gallery2002.php?pic=jlouis_thiry_1.jpg http://www.???????/discussion/upload/gallery2002.php?pic=jlouis_thiry_2.jpg -- DON'T MISS !!! __________________________________________________________ http://perso.wanadoo.fr/multimage/sessionbanjo/ __________________________________________________________ MULT'IMAGE Applications graphiques - 41, rue Voltaire - ZI Nord F-82000 MONTAUBAN Tél 05 63 63 54 54 - Fax 05 63 63 11 18 - ISDN 05 63 63 11 18
