Ilan Wolff has established a large body of work using the ‘Camera Obscura’ or pinhole camera. His career has spanned decades with work produced around the globe.
He utilises various sizes of canisters and tubes to produce his images, The curvature of the can, which causes the film to curve together with the large field of view produces an optical warp in the finished image. This look is something that helps identify the process.
Studying Wolff’s images in relation to my own have shown that more consideration is required with the composition. I have understood the wide angle nature of the camera however I have established that my foreground items were still too far away reducing them a small blip in a vast image.
I feel that in viewing Wolff’s work allows one to gain insight and utilise the years of experience from someone who has mastered the craft of camera obscura.
The image below is Wolff’s experimentation with 3 holes in the camera tube producing an overlapping image is a further process that I have started to explore.
One aspect of Wolff’s work that does stand out is the use of colour toning introduced in the darkroom processing of the images. Although this dramatically enhances the finished result it is something that will be beyond me in the current facilities that I have for processing images, however if there is a change in circumstances it would be something to undertake.
References
Figures
Fig 1 Ilan Wolff Minster Bridge. https://www.ilanwolff.com/photography-for-sale/3-pinhole#sigplus_1001-12
