Last Updated on 04/18/2013 by Chris Gampat
“Hey! What’s a pinhole camera, eh?”
I’m sure that when that question is being asked of you by a Canadian Constable that anyone would sit there and try to explain it as carefully as they possibly could to someone who isn’t technically savvy. Unfortunately, that is what happens when a major tragedy happens and the world is on high alert. However, Police in the Ivey Park region of Ontario, Canada were tipped off to a suspicious package in a park. Then (this is the awesome part) an explosives team arrived to try to figure out what the problem was. Later on, they concluded that it was a Pinhole Camera.
This was only bound to happen. For everyone reading this that doesn’t know what a pinhole camera is: it is a usually homemade camera with a piece of film inside and an extremely small opening for light to leak onto the film for the exposure. The camera may need to be left in place for anywhere from seconds to months depending on how sensitive to light the film is. The results are often extremely creative and artistic looks. Two of my favorites are Matt Hill and Gabe Biderman. However, Matt Bigwood was recently featured here on this site for his months long beer can pin hole camera experiments. And to that end, Pinhole Cameras are sometimes made of Spam Cans, Shoeboxes, and come in proper manufacturer flavors like an 8×10, and an Obscura.