Photo Corners headlinesarchivemikepasini.com
A S C R A P B O O K O F S O L U T I O N S F O R T H E P H O T O G R A P H E R
Enhancing the enjoyment of taking pictures with news that matters, features that entertain and images that delight. Published frequently.
Matinee: Michael Falco's Pinhole Images
24 July 2021
Saturday matinees long ago let us escape from the ordinary world to the island of the Swiss Family Robinson or the mutinous decks of the Bounty. Why not, we thought, escape the usual fare here with Saturday matinees of our favorite photography films?
So we're pleased to present the 406th in our series of Saturday matinees today: Michael Falco's Pinhole Images.
In Michael Angelo Falco's 2:28 video the photographer shows us the component images of his multiple-exposure compositions from his series Everything Suspended.
The subject of the series is an evening at Coney Island, N.Y., merged with cloud formations shot separately earlier. Falco uses a film camera that records on sheet film, making meticulous notes, in this case, of the cloud formations he shot first before adding the Coney Island scenes to those exposures.
The images are not just the result of more than a single exposure, though.
They are also pinhole images. Using a pinhole instead of a lens to form an image has two important consequences. The images are soft and, with no shutter, motion is blurred.
Falco show us his camera and demonstrates his technique in this 1:10 video:
"While capturing the clouds was a dreamy activity, reexposing the film a second or third time felt more like tight-rope walking," he says. Multiple images have to work together, after all.
As an example, he points to some seaside images that merge clouds and the water to create a dreamy image of a summer day.
We found the images inspiring and the technology required within reach of even a digital photographer.
You can build a pinhole lens with nothing more than a lenscap or you can buy one. And you can layer multiple images in your image editor (try the Lighten mode) if your camera doesn't have a multiple exposure option.
You can see more of Falco's work on his Instagram page.