Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day - Is it dying? Can it be resuscitated?

[MattKing]

The big thing that kills pinhole photo swaps is total lack of follow through which is what happened on APUG.

You are living in the long ago past here Sirius. That APUG exchange was when?

 

[Don_ih]

The big thing that kills pinhole photo swaps is total lack of follow through which is what happened on APUG.

Yes yes, but there is currently close to, if not actually, 100% follow through on the postcard exchange. So get over it, already.

I too love receiving cards in return. but these days the money is tight, so I have to make every penny count.

Of course, if you can't do it, you shouldn't. You could sign up to send 3 or 4, if you wished, although the smaller the number, the less fun. Maybe we could try a within-Canada exchange - not that sending letters within Canada is that cheap - and I wouldn't want to eat into the general postcard exchange participation.

 

[Xylo]

I wouldn't want to do that either.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Yes yes, but there is currently close to, if not actually, 100% follow through on the postcard exchange. So get over it, already.



Of course, if you can't do it, you shouldn't. You could sign up to send 3 or 4, if you wished, although the smaller the number, the less fun. Maybe we could try a within-Canada exchange - not that sending letters within Canada is that cheap - and I wouldn't want to eat into the general postcard exchange participation.

I am not interested in post cards only real prints.

 

[MattKing]

I am not interested in post cards only real prints.

My post cards were small, real prints.
And as a result of my years of participation in the postcard exchange, I've received hundreds of small, real prints from people all around the world.

 

[Don_ih]

I am not interested in post cards only real prints.

They're all real prints. Most are on silver-gelatin paper, some are inkjet, some are cyanotype. Sure enough, though, they are real, not imaginary.

 

[Sirius Glass]

My post cards were small, real prints.
And as a result of my years of participation in the postcard exchange, I've received hundreds of small, real prints from people all around the world.

They're all real prints. Most are on silver-gelatin paper, some are inkjet, some are cyanotype. Sure enough, though, they are real, not imaginary.

The one I had participated in I received several excellent 8"x10" prints.

 

[redrockcoulee]

@Xylo, the Chinook hits Calgary, not Edmonton.

Edmonton has ten months of winter and two of poor tobaggoning.

Even Medicine Hat and Lethbridge have more chinooks than Calgary. Lived in and aroubd Edmonron , loved the summers but not the winters. Love winters in Medicibe Hat but the summers are too hot. At least Winnipeg has bad winters to go along with their bad summers.

 

[Roger Thoms]

3 weeks to go, been out shooting pinhole to get warmed up. Still not sure which camera(s) l’ll use, my Harman Titan 8x10 and RealitySoSubtle 617 are the top contenders. Really though, what I should do is get my home built 5 1/2” x 14” bamboo camera out. It’s a little tougher because it a single shot camera, hard to beat the convenience of roll film and sheet film holders. Tough decision.

Roger

 

[Nick Dvoracek]

3 weeks to go, been out shooting pinhole to get warmed up. Still not sure which camera(s) l’ll use, my Harman Titan 8x10 and RealitySoSubtle 617 are the top contenders. Really though, what I should do is get my home built 5 1/2” x 14” bamboo camera out. It’s a little tougher because it a single shot camera, hard to beat the convenience of roll film and sheet film holders. Tough decision.

Roger

I've always thought it was a good excuse to think about the choices I had and make photographic decisions - preparing, spur of the moment on Pinhole Day, and polishing the results and choosing one photograph for the gallery. Good pinhole exercise.

 

[rodstew]

After a few years of growth, WPPD has been in sharp decline. The team in charge of it seems to have left it on autopilot, and the number of participants has fallen below levels last seen in 2003. Can this trend be reversed? This was a community effort at first, with lots of excitement around it, but now seems to have turned into a dead-end project run by a closed group of people with little interest in getting the word out to people not already into it.
I want the project to thrive, to spread the joy of pinhole photography to those who haven't had a chance to get to know it yet. I have taken part in it from the start in 2001, both as part of the original organizing team, as a workshop organizer and as a regular participant. I inquired a few years ago about helping with it, but was told the team didn't need any help. I have seen no progress since then, and have only watched the project continue to decline.
View attachment 328222
Just so there's no misunderstanding - I don't want to disparage the people running it. They have maintained things, and have clearly shelled out for the server space needed to keep it going - and they deserve thanks for that. I'm just looking for ideas of how to get the project back on its feet despite the organizers' apparent disinterest in growing it beyond its current limited scope.
I think that in order to make the project more attractive to new participants, the website needs a serious revamp, both in terms of look and functionality. More server space is also needed for larger images - these days a 700px maximum is not sufficient even for mobile devices. These are things the current organizers have a lock on, and without their willingness to open up to more outside participation, not much can be done. However, the event can be promoted better, and this is where I see the community's role - I'd like to see if we can organize a separate group of volunteers to spearhead a real promotional campaign for WPPD 2023. Any takers? Ideas? Let's start a conversation, maybe something will grow out of it. After all, that's how the whole thing got started in the first place.

I spent 2022 just focusing on photographing with one camera, a pinhole camera made from driftwood. I was disenchanted with digital cameras, and the mechanical film cameras I had, often failed to function after a few months of use. I instantly fell in love with pinhole photography, and promote it whenever I can. I think that making the wonder of pinholing more than just a celebratory day, or a few weeks lead time may help. If pinhole workshops can be a more frequent experience, whether it is an introduction to photography, a fun science experiment, and art option, or a cool weekend project, might help. Instagram has a strong social presence, and that is useful for getting pinhole art out there, and influencing your friends. I even made a modest book of photos, poetry and experiences with my pinhole camera...and it was the first item to sell at a gallery show. So yes, there is excellent interest out there...just connecting with folks who may be inspired is one ingredient.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Welcome to APUG Photrio!!​

 

[retina_restoration]

I finally browsed through this year's Pinhole Day gallery for the USA and did a survey: 4 out of 5 images were made using a pinhole on a DSLR camera. The results were uninteresting (most of them, anyway), low-res and its seemed the photographer wasn't really very invested in the process, or making much effort. Personally, I think this kind of content is what is killing the event. Who wants to participate in something that looks so uninteresting?

 

[Donald Qualls]

low-res

Last time I submitted (haven't processed my film from this year yet) I recall there was an image size limit that would make almost anything seem "low-res" -- has that changed?

 

[MattKing]

Last time I submitted (haven't processed my film from this year yet) I recall there was an image size limit that would make almost anything seem "low-res" -- has that changed?

It hasn't changed.

 

[Sirius Glass]

I finally browsed through this year's Pinhole Day gallery for the USA and did a survey: 4 out of 5 images were made using a pinhole on a DSLR camera. The results were uninteresting (most of them, anyway), low-res and its seemed the photographer wasn't really very invested in the process, or making much effort. Personally, I think this kind of content is what is killing the event. Who wants to participate in something that looks so uninteresting?

More and more there is less and less inclination to participate. Film pinhole photographs can be interesting and I will continue to make them, but the luster is off this particular activity and now is the time for blind neglect.

 

[Xylo]

the luster is off this particular activity

I would say that it's pretty much on par with most stuff in the photo world these days. It feels like everything falls into either the "no effort" camp or the "I traveled 6,000 km to capture this beautiful sunset off some remote island in the pacific which I spent 16 hours photoshopping" camp.

But for the everyday folk living in suburbia, the options are pretty limited.

 

[Nick Dvoracek]

Who wants to participate in something that looks so uninteresting?

You could try to make it interesting. Show those slackers what's possible. Let's see what you did on Pinhole Day.

 

[Sirius Glass]

I would say that it's pretty much on par with most stuff in the photo world these days. It feels like everything falls into either the "no effort" camp or the "I traveled 6,000 km to capture this beautiful sunset off some remote island in the pacific which I spent 16 hours photoshopping" camp.

But for the everyday folk living in suburbia, the options are pretty limited.

Thanks, I needed that.

 

[Sirius Glass]

You could try to make it interesting. Show those slackers what's possible. Let's see what you did on Pinhole Day.

BTDT

 

[Nick Dvoracek]

BTDT

Well. bye. Would have been lovely to see your photographs. Hope you find a community to share your pictures with that meets your quality standards. By the way, do you guys post photographs anywhere or do you just talk about Pinhole Day on this forum.

 

[MattKing]

By the way, do you guys post photographs anywhere or do you just talk about Pinhole Day on this forum.

Check the Photrio Galleries - where some of us post. Until recently, one needed to be a paid subscriber to do so, but there are also people who post in the threads that are suited to that.
And of course, some of us post on the WPPD site (under Matthew King, in the British Columbia, Canada cohort) -

Burns House - WPPD 2023

• MattKing
• May 14, 2023
• 5

A pinhole exposure made on worldwide Pinhole Photography Day-April 30, 2023. This is the Burns...

 

[Nick Dvoracek]

Check the Photrio Galleries - where some of us post. Until recently, one needed to be a paid subscriber to do so, but there are also people who post in the threads that are suited to that.
And of course, some of us post on the WPPD site (under Matthew King, in the British Columbia, Canada cohort) -

Burns House - WPPD 2023

• MattKing
• May 14, 2023
• 5

A pinhole exposure made on worldwide Pinhole Photography Day-April 30, 2023. This is the Burns...

Saw yours, Matt. Pretty cool. Most of the detractors only have pseudonyms so it's hard to look them up.

 

[Xylo]

And I'm mostly on Flickr and Filmwasters.com.
On flickr, I'm Flaver-D
On filmwasters, I'm just plain François.

And on the WPPD 2023, I'm part of the Quebec cohort (and not hard to find as there's only one François on there).

 

[scyg]

While there doesn't seem to be any significant growth, it looks like participation rates are starting to gently recover from the 2021 bottom - 1,381 people submitting so far, with potentially more on the way until June 30th.
In order to not just be a whiner (as some here have suggested), I organized a free camera-making workshop at Pumping Station: One hackerspace in Chicago - got a whole two participants, one of whom was looking mainly to rope people into his radiography group. Not very encouraging, to be honest. At least I did my bit.