Reflection – Pinhole Project

Prior to this project, I had never heard about pinhole camera, let alone the concept of capturing image with a container and a piece of light-sensitive paper. Although I now understand the principle and the function of a pinhole camera, it still amazes me how a camera can be low-budget and simple.

My pinhole camera was made with a 5 ¼ in x 5 ¼ in x 2 ½ in cardboard gift box. The interior of the box was spread-painted in matt black. The lid of the box was punctured with a push-pin to create an aperture. The lid and the pinhole were sealed with masking tape for each loading of photographic paper to avoid any leakage of light from the exterior.

The principle of a pinhole camera might seem straightforward, but producing a decent photographic print with such an elemental device was not as effortless as pressing a shutter button. Since the aperture was set to a pinhole size, controlling the exposure time according to the brightness of the surrounding became the crucial key to achieve a successful print.

For my first attempt, I would say that it was partially successful, because I achieved on capturing a clear image, but the result had a round-edged effect. I was later informed by my instructor that this was resulted due to the blockage of light by the tiny excess paper hedge around the hole.  Although I like this ‘telescope‘ effect, my camera was not fit for creating the final print for this group assignment.

Nonetheless, I scraped off paper excess from around the hole and continued on experimenting with my camera. Since the theme of our project was Individual, Place, and Identity, I had a few attempts of capturing images at home. Although I followed the Exposure Guide table and tried to understand the Light Meter phone application as suggested by my instructor, my results from home still came out poorly. The multiple attempts of capturing one picture at a time from home and processing it at school later to discover the unsuccessful prints was frustrating.

In the end, I decided to give a few shots in school for experimental purpose. Because each pinhole camera's relation to the exposure time varies according to the structure of the camera and the brightness of the environment, it requires many trials in order to achieve proficiency at managing the exposure time. Since I was able to obtain the results faster, it facilitated my control of the exposure time. Here are a couple of my successful prints and their positives.

This project not only provided me the opportunity to learn about pinhole camera, but it also gave me a fruitful experience of working collaboratively with my peers. Although working in group does provide its challenges, the beneficial aspects of teamwork definitely outweigh its obstacles. Having this project as a group work actually provided many advantages. R. Johnson and D. Johnson (1988) found that “students learn more effectively and achieve more in cooperative interaction than in competitive or individualistic interaction”. Without the contributions of my teammates, I cannot imagine how I could have undertaken and accomplished this project by myself.

Working together to pursuit a common goal also gave us a chance to know each other better. According to Szalavitz (2004), collaborative learning encourages interaction, communication, discussion, and negotiation which lead to interpersonal development and social skills. In a society that strongly encourages individuality, I believe that cooperative learning can provide students opportunities to cross the barriers of race, culture, socio-economic status, and exceptionalities to better understand diversity and different viewpoints.

References

Johnson, R. and Johnson, D. (1988). Cooperative Learning: Two Heads Learn Better Than One. Transforming Education.

  Retrieved March 2, 2014, from http://www.context.org/iclib/ic18/johnson/

Szalavitz, M. (2004). Workshop: Cooperative and Collaborative Learning. Thirteen Ed Online.

  Retrieved March 2, 2014, from http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/coopcollab/index_sub3.html