12 images Created 16 Nov 2020
Solargraphs
For the exhibition Unknowable, I have produced a series of pinhole works that reveal unseeable designs created by nature and unpredictable patterns introduced by chance. Within drawing, a line can be thought of as a mark made by a moving point or dot. In these pinhole photographs, the Sun is my point and the Earths constant rotation provides the apparent movement of my point. To capture the movement, I use a very long exposure to reveal the suns daily traverse as a line across the sky in the finished image. Making these marks using sunlight as my pen connects with the Greek origins for the word photography, which translates as ‘drawing with light’.
When the pinhole camera is left in a static position for many months. The gradual shift in the suns altitude corresponding to the change of seasons can be seen as an expanding series of graceful arcs in sky. If passing clouds obscure the sun; gaps or breaks appear in the lines, resulting in the emergence of what looks like an unreadable form of cosmic Morse code.
With exposure times ranging from several months up to a year and a half, the cameras have to be left unattended in situ. This leaves opportunity for unpredictable events to contribute to the end result. If the camera’s position alters, the sun will start to draw lines out of kilter with the initial pattern. The new series of lines may cross over, merge, or completely separate from the original set. This can be seen in some of my images where the Canterbury earthquakes have left their own marks.
Often surprising images are generated from unplanned human intervention. Over the many years that this project has been running, many of the cameras have been repeatedly moved, thrown, and even smashed. The resulting erratic sun trails go some way to tell the story of the camera’s experience. But all too often the cameras are taken away and simply disappear, leaving their story untold.
When the pinhole camera is left in a static position for many months. The gradual shift in the suns altitude corresponding to the change of seasons can be seen as an expanding series of graceful arcs in sky. If passing clouds obscure the sun; gaps or breaks appear in the lines, resulting in the emergence of what looks like an unreadable form of cosmic Morse code.
With exposure times ranging from several months up to a year and a half, the cameras have to be left unattended in situ. This leaves opportunity for unpredictable events to contribute to the end result. If the camera’s position alters, the sun will start to draw lines out of kilter with the initial pattern. The new series of lines may cross over, merge, or completely separate from the original set. This can be seen in some of my images where the Canterbury earthquakes have left their own marks.
Often surprising images are generated from unplanned human intervention. Over the many years that this project has been running, many of the cameras have been repeatedly moved, thrown, and even smashed. The resulting erratic sun trails go some way to tell the story of the camera’s experience. But all too often the cameras are taken away and simply disappear, leaving their story untold.