Jim Provenzano has been making pinhole photographs on and off since the mid-1990’s, when he first encountered images at a New York Camera Club exhibit. Captured by how pinhole photographs can express timelessness and atmosphere, and the processes to make such images, including by modifying lens cameras to pinhole, he returned to the medium whenever breaks in his day job allowed. Now retired, he is both revisiting his archives of prints and negatives to move them to digital platforms and creating new works. He is currently a member of the New Jersey Pinhole Club. You can find his works on Instagram (@jim_provenzano) and at the current Club exhibit at Unique Photo, Philadelphia. His works will also be included at a larger Club exhibit from September 3 – October 9, 2024, at The Hutchins Galleries, Lawrenceville, NJ.
You can see his pinhole photo series on the Staten Island Ferry in the April 2024 issue.
What is it that interests you about pinhole photography?
I am drawn both to the character of pinhole photographs and to the process by which they are made. For me, a good pinhole photo shows the passage of time and time’s impact on the subject, often in a manner that the human eye does not capture. Pinhole photographs create some surprise for the photographer because not everything can be visualized and ambiguity for the viewer, which is what really keeps me doing this. The images are for me like a visual of a memory –a snippet of time with some fuzziness, and ambiguity. I guess that’s why most people who see my images for the first time use terms like, dreamy, distant, otherworldly. For some it’s an acquired taste. From a process perspective, pinhole can be used to abuse our world and time. We can warp the perspective; we can add objects into pinhole cameras that impact the final image; we can use them discreetly in ways that traditional cameras cannot.
What can a pinhole convey that another photography medium might not?
Pinhole images can convey that otherworldliness and atmosphere that goes beyond regular seeing, even for long exposure lens photography This is in part science, because pinhole cameras capture a wider range of electromagnetic frequencies in the light spectrum and that I believe helps contribute to the transition of tonality in pinhole images. But I think the best example of the unique use of pinhole is with solargraphy. Many of the members of my New Jersey Pinhole Club are exceptional solargraphers. Capturing the path of the sun in a certain setting, like through trees or over lighthouses, over days, weeks or months is something most people with traditional lens cameras can’t do or convey. The results are amazing!
How did you first decide to begin taking pinhole photographs and how long have you been practicing?
I have been doing pinhole work on and off as a hobby since 1996, but with some very significant breaks – some as long as 13 years(!) – due to demands of work and family. But I am back at it again now since I retired from my day job last year. I got started thanks to a show at the Camera Club of New York, and I was hooked on the pinhole look. I didn’t have access to a darkroom though, so I bought a cheap Polaroid 103 Land Camera, that shot 3 ½ by 4 ¼ pack film in black and white and in colour. I ripped out its guts (lens and shutter), made a pinhole in tin, and put some gaffers tape over the opening as the shutter. I made a U out of a piece of a hanger and was able to use different lengths of the bellows from super wide angle (bellows all the way in) to normal focal length. I had a blast! Go slow, be deliberate and patient, socialize with curious bystanders during the exposure, but then get an instant result!
I find that some pinhole photographers are interested in the art of the form while some are more interested in mastering the technical aspects. Where do you fit on the spectrum?
I started out very much focusing on the technical aspects of pinholing. With the goal of getting perfectly exposed images, I had all sorts of tables on optimum pinhole size for focal length of pinhole to film plane, grain characteristics of film to go for optimum clarity and “sharpness”, homemade testing for reciprocity failure of films comparing them against tables of master photographers like Ansel Adams. It was important especially because instant film was expensive compared to roll films and I couldn’t afford to waste images and the outcome had to be right for the one off final framed print. Now I am very much on the other side of the midline, and that is in part because I am more focused on visualizing the final image, but also because I developed a solid technical foundation. But I am also experimenting a lot more with abstract and digital pinhole photography and the technical aspects aren’t so precise.
Can you tell us a little bit about the technique you most often use to take your photographs? What is it that appeals to you about this particular technique?
I mostly work with a tripod and one camera, taking multiple shots with either Polaroid/Instax or on traditional film (4X5 or 120). I always use a light meter. I like returning many times to familiar places because I find that allows me to keep seeing more and more of that location. I continue to enjoy shooting in public places and having conversations with people I meet while taking photos.
Where do you go for inspiration for your photography?
Right now my greatest inspiration comes from my colleagues in the NJ Pinhole Club and their diverse and exceptional work! I am only on Instagram for social media, but I have also made some friends virtually and have found inspirational approaches there. There is no particular location that I use for inspiration – I can shoot anywhere.
It seems like pinhole photographers have a special interest and take joy in experimenting – both with the devices they use (often handmade) and the techniques they use. Have you tried other alternative methods?
Most of my experimenting has been by tinkering to modify lens cameras to pinhole. I have not yet gotten into making cameras out of tin boxes or cans, but I am appreciating the images that such can create with just a small piece of photo paper inside. I am starting to try solargraphy. I am most interested to build a camera obscura with the hope of taking digital photos of pinhole images visible on the screen inside the camera.
Are there any projects you’re working on now or have worked on in the past that you would like to tell us about?
I have recently been exploring Polaroid Composite images, in the style of David Hockney, and I expect to have one ready for an upcoming exhibition of our club at Hutchins Galleries Lawrenceville NJ, in September. I am not sure if the pinhole approach will make a difference or is just another camera so to speak for doing a polaroid. We’ll see. I am also working on a project to put perspective on the culture of death and the afterlife through pinhole photography at cemeteries and other places of religious worship for the dead. I think the ethereal effects that pinhole offers is well suited to this theme.