Making My Own Alternative Camera (Pinhole)

Back in 2002 I was halfway through the BFA program in fine art photo at OSU and I’d just started a course called “alternative camera” taught by the great Ardine Nelson. The umbrella of “alt camera” encompassed everything from finding/modifying toy cameras to making your own cameras from scratch. The course awakened in me a drive to explore and push the boundaries in my artmaking and I really learned to lean into the element of chaos and the beauty of imperfection that accompanied exploration. I crafted a range of cameras during those three months. I made a LEGO pinhole camera that shot 4x5 film. I modified my grandmother’s broken stereoscopic 35mm film camera to shoot hazy, ethereal pinhole images. But my favorite camera ended up being one I made from an old cigarette tin…