San Diego Loma Portal Elementary School Pinhole Photography Project

On occasion I’m asked by teachers from schools around San Diego county to come and present to their class about pinhole photography. Sometimes the classes have their own projects where they create their own cameras and then use those cameras to take photos with. For the past few years I have been volunteering my time to speak to Kelly Magaudda’s 3/4 grade seminar class students at Loma Portal Elementary about pinhole photography. After a short introduction on lensless photography the class is broken up into teams who then take turn loading their pinhole cameras with paper negatives in a makeshift darkroom. Parent volunteers help the students setting up their shots and assist with exposure times. The students then returned to the darkroom where I would remove the negatives from the camera and process them in the developer. The students are always excited to see their photos develop in the darkroom chemicals right before their eyes. An experience I’m sure they’ll never forget.

I also suggested that sometimes self portraits can be interesting. In order to be sure they’re not a blurry mess, I told them they would have to hold still throughout the duration of the exposure. And since most of the exposures were about 20-30 seconds, that’s not easy for a 4 grader.
You can see here where this team has chosen to sit on a bench during one of their exposures. To save time in the darkroom I ended up tearing the paper negatives before putting them into the cameras.
I love the “dreamy” quality that pinhole paper negatives give. Most pinhole cameras have a wide angle view, so I kept telling the students to get closer to the camera during their exposures.
This is a fun exposure of these two boys. I like how they’re kinda blurry but the classrooms in the background are sharp.
Pinhole photo or not, stairs always make for some interesting photographs. Plus it’s always nice to see people in pictures.
This is one of my favorites. I like the fact that you can see this girl’s smile. And since the camera is cylindrical the negative sits on a curved surface, which in turn distorts the image. Note how the stairs are curved and not straight.
After this boy took this image and we were processing it in the darkroom, he went on to tell me how he was imaging himself as a miner digging in the dirt. I really enjoyed how each student was truly excited about the whole process from loading the cameras, the picture taking and then watching the image develop in the darkroom.
This team really got creative during their exposure. Smart of the boy in the foreground to brace his head for the exposure (making him the sharpest) but he’s nicely contrasted by the blur of his teammates behind him.
I don’t know what it is, but I think this image wouldn’t have been as interesting if this girl hadn’t been posed on the play structure. Also some really interesting shadows from the chainlink fence which must have been behind the camera.
I like how this boy ventured off to photograph an entirely different area of the school. Unfortunately the guy (that’s me) developing the negatives in the darkroom put his nasty developer laden fingers all over the negative putting fingerprints on this students head.
This is another one of my favorite photos from that day. I’m not sure what’s going on here but I like all the leading lines that direct your eye into what these two boys are doing. I looks like the boy in the front is holding his left arm out which ends up framing the boy behind him. Nice work you two!
Well this is a fun photo of this team. I like how you can see how they’re holding a couple of the paint can cameras in front of them. It’s also interesting that you can see someone standing at the bottom of the stairs on the right hand side of the photo.
I’m a sucker for people that smile, so I’m giving these two girls a big thumbs up for this photo. I also like how the river rock wall and plants add texture to the image.
Not the sharpest of photos but I still can see that this girl is giving the camera a smile. 🙂 I tell the students to make sure their camera is secure before making the exposure. Sometimes wind or an uneven surface will make the camera move when the shutter is open.I can see that this play structure got a lot of use during this project.
It’s tough holding completely still during a 20-30 second exposure… thus the reason why these two are so blurry. I do like how the girl in the front is anchored in the center of the image though.
This is a fun photo. I’m giving this student props for holding onto the monkey bars for 30 seconds! And take a look at that smile… looks like he’s having way too much fun.
This pinhole camera team really worked together to create a great group photo. Props to you all for the team effort.
This is quite the dynamic photo. This young man is hanging onto the monkey bars with both his hands and feet. I’m just not sure it’s possible to remain completely still for 30 seconds while hanging onto something though. Regardless nice work!
I like how the shade of this student’s ball cap makes this boy look a bit “shady”. He must of stood really still because I can read “Let’s Go” on his t-shirt! Cool photo!
This team did an nice job standing over an interesting part of the blacktop. The grayscale of the graphic made for some nice tonality in the photo.
OK, I’ve said it before… I love pictures of people and I like stairs. And these students were even smart enough to include a couple pinhole cameras as props in their photo. Thumbs up to this team!
When I first processed this image I didn’t see the little girl hiding on the play structure on the right hand side of the image… too funny. I wonder if the student on the left knew if that girl was hiding out in this exposure?
Some interesting lines and curves in this photo. The black vignette on the left hand side of the photo is created by the negative now being fully flush to the back of the camera. Regardless, I think it makes for some interesting contrast to the image.
I think this student may have moved a bit too much during the exposure. They’ve been completely ghosted out :-O
OK, this is a really fun image. I like how the boy on the right seems to be looking at the boy on the left with this look on his face like “what the heck are you doing?”
This could be one of the best images created that day. It’s rich with contrast, it’s sharp, has some interesting textures, type and of course my favorite… it has a person in it. A+ to this team/student for this image.
This image needs some explanation… I think the white line on the left of the image is caused by someone pointing the camera at the sun before positioning the camera for this exposure. The gray streak on the bottom is a fixer or developer stain. Regardless of all this… the student is still smiling 🙂
The smiling girls are back and this time they included a boy to even things out. Kudos to all of you for working together to make this awesome team portrait.
Last but not least, the pinhole photographer volunteer, Chris Keeney jumped into a shot with one of the students before cleaning up and leaving for the day. Many thanks to Kelly Magaudda, the parent volunteers and to all the students for making this day so fun and successful.

 

For further reading, here’s an article that sdnews.com did on our first pinhole project back in March 2008

UPDATE:
I got a really nice package in the mail the other day. Inside was a stack of thank you notes from the entire class. Each card was uniquely different, with beautiful handwriting mixed with magical drawings adorned pinhole photographs. Thanks to all of you for writing these. It was interesting to hear that so many of you liked the darkroom developing process. I enjoyed the cards so much, I thought it would be fun to share a few in this blog post. Keep in mind, I couldn’t post them all, so if you don’t see your card here it doesn’t mean I didn’t love it. Thanks again and please be nice to your teacher 🙂

High School Senior Portrait Session at Windansea Beach La Jolla, California

Blonde teenage girl wearing a long white dress on Wind N Sea beach in La Jolla California

I love the beach, so naturally I enjoy any chance I get to work next to the ocean. When Zoey’s mom contacted me about photographing her daughter’s high school senior portraits on the beach, I jumped on the opportunity. Of course working on the beach has it’s intrinsic challenges, such as the tide, the weather as well as other people enjoying the beach. Windansea Beach is a popular place, so I always try plan shoots there during non peak times. I love natural light, so fortunately I had my favorite assistant Jen helping with reflectors and strobes. Thanks to Zoey and Jen for doing so an awesome job on this shoot!

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Zoey sitting on the sand at Windansea beach La Jolla California with the ocean and bluff in the background
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Walking down the beach barefoot with the sun in your face always puts a smile on people’s faces
Full body portrait of high school senior at Windansea beach La Jolla California
Candid high school senior portrait of girl standing near the shoreline holding her white dress smiling at Windansea beach La Jolla California
I love how this shot turned out of Zoey standing near the shoreline with the sunlight shinning in her hair
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Zoey sitting on some steps leading down to the beach with green ice plant in the foreground and the beach in the background
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Zoey cleverly painted 2017 on some seashells and is seen here holding them with the golden light of the sunset lighting them.
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A seated portrait of Zoey sitting on the bluff just after sunset with the ocean and waves in the background at Windansea Beach in La Jolla California
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Zoey standing on the bluff smiling in her white dress with the sun about to set into the horizon line of the ocean
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After an outfit change we got a bit daring and did a few shots in-between two large rocks where the ocean water flows in and out
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A behind the scenes shot of me working behind the camera. Thanks to my assistant Jen!
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Zoey sitting on the sand with the Windansea beach in the background just after sunset. Lit with handheld LED light bank photographed with 85mm f/1.2

Backpacking the Rae Lakes Loop – Kings Canyon National Park

This July (25-30) 2016 our family and a couple of the kids friends had the pleasure of hiking the Rae Lakes Loop in the Kings Canyon National Park. Our wilderness permit was outlined to hike the loop counterclockwise starting at the Roads End ranger station and heading up Paradise Valley. Our first night we camped at the Upper Paradise campground.

Map of the Rae Lakes Loop in Kings Canyon National Park
Map of the Rae Lakes Loop in Kings Canyon National Park showing the trail.
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Simone and Nicole standing next to the Rae Lakes Loop map and sign
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Nicole and Simone making their way up Paradise Valley on the first day. It was a hot day and temperatures were in the mid 90’s. Full packs, uphill climb and hot sun makes for cranky hikers.
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The nice thing about this hike is that about 90% of this trail is next to water. This way you never have to worry about hiking with lots of water… which we all know is heavy. The Sphinx peak in the background.
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About an hour or so into our first day we came upon Mist Falls which is a spectacular sight. I just wish I had time to take a dip.
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Right above Mist Falls is Lower Paradise Valley which had a beautiful river flowing through it. So beautiful I had to take my pack off and soak in the sights for a while.
As I was soaking in the sights I hoped onto a rock (which can be seen in the previous photo). Below this rock (unknown to me) was a large rattlesnake keeping itself cool next to the river. Yes, that's right, rattlesnakes CAN swim.
As I was soaking in the sights I hopped onto a rock (which can be seen in the previous photo). Below this rock (unknown to me) was a large rattlesnake keeping itself cool next to the river. Yes, that’s right, rattlesnakes CAN swim.
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After my near rattlesnake experience, I put on my pack and eventually caught up with my son and his friend who were admiring all the awesome fishing holes along the way.
Brook Trout caught in Upper Paradise Valley with lure with barbless hook
Before leaving on the trip I made sure all the people fishing in our group had a valid California fishing licenses and were equipped with barbless hooks. All fish are to be catch and release only below 9000 feet. The brook trout were definitely biting on this trip. Park regulations can be found HERE
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My wife and son filtering water at our first camp at Upper Paradise Valley. Simone has her mosquito net on but I didn’t think the bugs were all that bad.
The kids love campfires, and since fires aren't allowed above 10,000 feet I figured, what the heck. You can see everyone was hungry and enjoying their dinner.
The kids love campfires, and since fires aren’t allowed above 10,000 feet I figured, what the heck. You can see everyone was hungry and enjoying their dinner.
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The next day we woke up early and headed down the trail which for a while paralleled Woods Creek.
Trail leading up Woods Creek
You know you're gaining elevation when you start to see aspen trees mixed in with pines.
You know you’re gaining elevation when you start to see aspen trees mixed in with pines.
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View looking up towards upper Woods Creek.
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Nicole crossing over the foot bridge at the junction at Upper Woods Creek. One person at a time please.
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View looking North down the trail toward upper Woods Creek. It’s kinda a steep climb up to Dollar and Arrowhead lake, so I was pleased that we got a little rain that day. Elevation is about 10,000 feet here.
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Reflection off the water at Dollar Lake with Fin Dome in the background
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Colin and Nick posing for a photo in a meadow just above Dollar Lake. This was probably one of the most beautiful meadows I saw along the whole trail.
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The boys trying their luck in these little ponds along the meadow. Pretty much every cast they would catch a fish. Like I said, this meadow is quite beautiful.
Swimming in Arrowhead Lake
First thing we did when we reached Arrowhead Lake was go for a swim. The water was chilly but we were dirty and dusty so we didn’t mind much. This lake has to be one of the most beautiful lakes I’ve camped at in the Sierras
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My wife and sun enjoying a cup of coffee the next morning at Arrowhead Lake
View of Arrowhead Lake from the trail heading Towards Rae Lakes
View of Arrowhead Lake from the trail heading up towards Rae Lakes
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Trail heading into Rae Lakes
Panoramic view of trail heading into Rae Lakes
Panoramic view of trail heading into Rae Lakes
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Light purple wildflowers along the side of the trail near Rae Lakes. Scientific Name: Allium Validum, Common Name: Swamp Onion, Family: Lily, Color: Pink to Lilac

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Colin and Nick posing for a photo at our campsite at Rae Lakes
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Julie and I enjoying a little red wine (French Gigondas) that we decanted into a Platypus that is specially designed to hold wine. And yes, we got rained on that afternoon/evening.
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A peek at our backpacking kitchen. Let me tell you… it has quite the view.
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A view from our campsite. Not bad right?
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Wait… The view just got better, at least for me. My daughter makes any view better for me.
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Sadly, all good things must come to an end eventually. A view of Rae Lakes on the trail towards Glen Pass.
Don't forget to stop and smell the wild flowers along the way. Scientific Name: Primula suffrutescens, Common Name: Sierra Primrose, Family: Primrose, Color: Bright Pink with a Yellow center
Don’t forget to stop and smell the wild flowers along the way. Scientific Name: Primula suffrutescens, Common Name: Sierra Primrose, Family: Primrose, Color: Bright Pink with a Yellow center
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Panoramic view of the lakes mid way up the trail to Glen Pass.
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View of Rae Lakes from the top of Glen Pass.

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Coming down the trail with a view of Kearsarge Pass in the distance. Kearsarge Pinnacles on the right hand side of photo.
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My daughter and her friend heading down the trail towards Junction Meadow
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Stopping again to smell the flowers. This time it’s Crimson Columbine (Aquilegia formosa), Bigelow’s Sneezeweed (Helenium bigelovii) and Western Snakeroot (Ageratina occidentals)
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Stoping for lunch. Polishing off the remaining salami, cheese, bagels with peanut butter and jelly. Needless to say I was happy to remove those items from my backpack for “repositioning” to other backpackers in our group.
Heading down the Bubbs Creek trail with a view of Grand Sentinel on the left.
Heading down the Bubbs Creek trail with a view of Grand Sentinel on the left.
Big smiles from the girls for completed the Rae Lakes Loop. Ice cream or cold beer anyone?
Big smiles from the girls for completed the Rae Lakes Loop. Ice cream or cold beer anyone?