"Success is seeing the big picture, so Amarillo College will enhance its traditional observance of Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day – Sunday, April 29 – with a weeks-long exhibit of nostalgic pictures in the pinhole style.
Recently created pinhole photographs by Robin Dru Germany, associate director of Texas Tech University’s School of Art, and Kim Brown, darkroom technician at Tech, will be on display at AC’s Southern Light Gallery from April 19 to May 11.
Southern Light Gallery is located on the first floor of the Ware Student Commons on the Washington Street Campus. The exhibit is free and open to the public, and so is AC’s Pinhole Day.
AC’s Photography Program will mark the worldwide occasion for the seventh year in a row by making supplies available for anyone, the general public included, who wants to learn how to make and operate a pinhole camera.
Pinhole Day at AC is from noon to 4 p.m. Sunday, April 29 in Parcells Hall, Room 314, on the Washington Street Campus.
A darkroom and supplies will be provided – all free – for making exposures with a simple, handmade camera and developing images.
“A pinhole camera is a simple camera without a lens and with a single small aperture, a pinhole – effectively a light-proof box with a small hole in one side,” said René West, AC assistant professor of photography. “Anyone can make one, and we’ve got all the supplies, so we hope everyone joins us for a fun day.”
Participants can vastly improve their chances for pinhole success, West said, if they plan to spend at least two hours on site. Kids 7 and older are welcome, she added, but they will need mom or dad for supervision.
Not only will AC students and faculty be on hand to assist aspiring pinhole photographers, but Germany and Brown will be there to pitch in, too.
Brown has taught as an adjunct at both Texas Tech and South Plains College. He says he is not at all opposed to digital media, but he prefers the traditional medium of film and printing his own work.
Germany has won numerous awards, including two from the Polaroid Corporation, and her work has been widely exhibited and resides in many prestigious collections. She said the pinhole photographs that will be on display in the Southern Light Gallery are steeped in nostalgia.
“Images taken with a pinhole camera are somewhat like old memories in that they are not sharp,” Germany said. “The images chosen for this exhibit are a metaphor for the vagueness of old memories.”
Pinhole Photography Day at Amarillo College is funded by grants from Art Force and AC’s Student Government Association. The AC Photo Club provides additional funding.
For more information about Pinhole Photography Day at Amarillo College, please contact René West at 806-345-5654, or rwest@actx.edu."
-Amarillo College
