Sherry Chandler

James Burgett

James Burgett writes to tell me that three of his pinhole photographs, including the one at left, have been published in Pinhole Journal And I’m really glad to hear it, if only because the news gives me a chance to do something I’ve wanted to do for a while now: draw your attention to James Burgett.

A pinhole camera doesn’t have a lens. A very small “pinhole” admits the light that forms the image. For those of you who are as ignorant of all this as I am, I think the process is similar to using a pinhole to project a solar eclipse onto a piece of paper. Wikipedia has a description of the process and instructions for making a camera. You can cross check that and see some neat photographs at Pinhole Resource.

I’m pretty sure Alan MacKellar told me that one advantage of the pinhole is that, without a lens, all parts of the photograph are in focus, so you get a more three-dimensional feel. However, the long exposure time can introduce movement artifacts, blurring. Pinhole Resource uses the term “mystery.”

James Burgett is one of Central Kentucky’s best and most neglected black-and-white photographers. He is known to hang out at Loudoun House, where he has studio space. If you’d like to see more of his work, he keeps an open studio during Lexington Art League’s Fourth Friday events.

Pinhole Journal is the only print outlet for pinhole photography. This photograph, reproduced by permission of the artist, is called “Useful Despair.”

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