Mary Ruth Moore is a pinhole photographer and college teacher living and working in Watkinsville, Georgia and it's my pleasure to announce her as the September 2011 CK pinhole photographer feature on www.chriskeeney.com
 

"I discovered photography by building a pinhole camera. That was back in the 1970’s at the University of Georgia, in Dr, Robert Nix’s beginning photography class. The 4x5 inch negative was photographic paper. There was a shutter, a tripod socket, a view finder system, and an f number. We worked up an exposure chart using B, M, and D (Bright, Medium, and Dim) to describe the intensity of the light and the reflectivity of the subject. And we made one photograph at a time. There was a lot of talk about light: “The quantity of light draws the picture, but it is the quality of light that makes it art.”

What an effective and unintimidating approach to beginning photography! There was not much talk about film and lenses or the fascinating gadgetry and expensive equipment associated with photography, until after midterm. We learned to expose and process paper negatives and make beautiful contact prints. It still thrills me to place a latent image into developer, then watch with great anticipation the metamorphosis, when the exposed silver darkens and the photograph “comes up” into existence.
 

Photographers spend a lot of time waiting. We wait for the light. We wait out the exposure. We wait for the image to “come up” in the developer. Waiting is important. It may be when we do our most creative thinking.

This collection covers many years. Over most of that time I have taught beginning photography to college students. We no longer include pinhole in the beginning classes, but there is now a “Pinhole Class” open to all art students. It fills up quickly.
 

Pinhole photography is a relatively slow process, and relatively soft, with a depth of field that is infinite. It is complex in its simplicity, delightful in its irony, finds drama in the mundane, and it reveals timeless symbols. Something’s always going on.
 

The following 18 pinhole photographs are in chronological order, from the most recent to the earliest work. Oddly, my camera format is the largest in the earliest work (11x14 inches), and the smallest in the recent work. It may be that a very small photograph can now be digitally scanned  and enlarged with amazing fidelity."

CK - It's a long story of how I came to meet Mary Ruth, but I will say that I'm glad I did. After communicating through email and speaking on the phone I knew she was the perfect artist for this next feature. Not only is she a fantastic artist but a really nice person as well. Being that it's back-to-school time and that Mary Ruth is a teacher at the University of Georgia, It seem appropriate to have her as this months feature. Thanks Mary Ruth for sharing your thoughts and images and I wish you and your students all the best in this coming year. -Chris

 

1. Flat Iron Building, 2011, pinhole box, 5x2 inch paper negative, 1 minute, so delightfully captured by both Stieglitz and Steichen in the early 20th century. The little wooden box is very wide-angle. It seemed at the time it was designed for the Flat Iron. This adventure took place in late June. New York City was being blessed with clear and balmy days, before the heat wave. The one minute exposure was executed by myself, 2 daughters, and several interested strangers.
 

2. Magnolia Solstice, 2011, pinhole box, 5x2 inch paper negative, 3 days. Mid-summer in the deep south always gives us Magnolia blooms. One takes a day to open, then at dusk it closes. It opens again on the second day, then it becomes remains, which are also beautiful.
 

3. Pears Tableau, 2011, pinhole box, 2x5 inch paper negative, 3 days. Most of the Wooden Box exposures are at a north window, and receive secondary light from more distant east and south windows.
 

4. Bottle, 2011, pinhole box, 5x2 inch paper negative, 2 days.
 

5. Pomegranate, pinhole box, 2x5 inch paper negative, 2 days.
 

6. Shower, 2011, pinhole box, 5x2 inch paper negative, 3 days. Three shower baths took place during this exposure. Too fast!
 

7. Convent Hall, 2002, 35mm pinhole, transparency, 1 minute. The pinhole is larger, to create even greater ephemera.
 

8. Park of Monsters, 2002, 35mm pinhole, transparency, 15 minutes. Shooting from shade toward fragmented direct sunlight, exploits refraction.
 

9. Italian Parlor, 2000, 35mm pinhole, transparency. Local wild lilies are photographed in front of a large print of an Italian parlor.

10. Spitfire, 2000, 35mm pinhole, transparency, Two exposures each 2-3 minutes.

11. Joey Crockett, 1999, pinhole box, 5x4 inch paper negative, 3 minutes. One of eleven “angels” in an installation Loggia degli Angeli. A thin cardboard mask was sandwiched with the negative during exposure, to create the arch.

12. Living Room, 1994, 35mm pinhole, transparency, 5 minutes. From a study of postmortem photography and death rituals.