CLICK: Pinhole Project PYP Exhibition

ART AND SCIENCE, ART IS SCIENCE: EXPLORATIONS INTO PHOTOGRAPHY

This project developed out of a love for Photography and its incredible transformation through time and impact on the world. With the development of digital technology and an overwhelming access to any photo taking device, the simple nature and science behind this art form goes completely unknown to new generations. I wanted to bring awareness of its simple nature and complex history to my students.

For 6 weeks we studied the art of photography, and how it has changed over the past century and shaped global awareness. We dug deep into the history, looked at some of the first cameras made in history. The first photograph took 8 hours to develop! We took apart old cameras to learn the inner workings of how a photo is created using only a small hole, light, and a mirror.

Pinhole development

I blacked out the classroom, and turned the entire space into a pinhole camera as a preliminary example for the kids. They of course, thought it was magic. The entire classroom was turned into a giant pinhole camera creating the camera obscure effect. After, students created their own small camera obscure boxes using lens’s to focus and tracing paper to view the image on the back of the box, like a small television.

After this inquiry, the students wanted to create their own large walk in camera’s. Working in teams, the students built two large walk in camera obscure boxes that transposed the outside image on the inside wall. This was not an easy process and we had to figure out the right lens to use for this project. However in the end it was successful.

In the last two weeks of the project the students took their own photographs. First week with film cameras of 24 exposures, second week with their own digital cameras with no filter or manipulation boundaries. This way the students could understand the comparison and they gained an appreciation for their digital photographs that they did not have prior to this experience.

In the end the students had a large exhibition, exhibiting all of their photographs, camera obscure boxes and walk in camera rooms for the school community to observe, use and enjoy.

Construction and Exhibition