The Cigar Box Camera

I've been interested in shooting with a pinhole camera for a while. So I decided to create one... I was inspired by other people who've used cigar boxes as a base for their pinhole cameras. I've mulled around with how cool it would be to create my own, even possibly having a detachable back for 4x5 exposures or even having interchangeable lenses. I came to a point in dreaming about this to actually making it.

A few weeks ago, I started looking for a box. I walked into a cigar shop hoping to find a box that would fit my loose specifications, should look pretty light proof and sturdy. I found this San Luis Rey Cigar Box which happens to be abbreviated into SLR on the lid. The lid itself is a sliding lid which gave me the impression that its pretty light proof.

When one of my friends had heard of my project, he surprised me with a drillbit and drill... He knew me well enough to make this happen...

After I bought the box, I shared the idea with my friends. I was already excited for this project because all the rest of the work that needed to be done was just putting in a hole, light proofing the box, and getting some light sensitive paper. It was a simple idea, but that idea somewhat evolved. I thought to myself, while I make a pinhole camera, I could also use the same pinhole for another one of my cameras. Then I thought, well, why don't I mount it to the box?

So, here it is... The ingredients:

• Cigar box
• Slr Lens back cover
• SLR body cover
• Black sheet of foam
• Spray adhesive
• Super glue
• Aluminum can
• Cardboard

The tools:

• Needle
• Drill
• 50mm drillbit (or drill bit the diameter of your lens back cover)
• Scissors
• Exacto knife
• Ruler
• Compass or circle template
• Pencil
• Black permanent marker
• Sandpaper
• Saw
• Lighter

First things first, safety first; if you're a child, please seek some assistance from an adult. When sanding and sawing, wear some goggles and a face mask to prevent inhaling dust. Be careful with the Exacto Knife as its very sharp.

Okay, first thing I did was measure the box and mark the center. The following picture shows the box marked diagonally to find the center.

Once its marked, punch the center with a nail enough to create an indent in the box. This helps the drill to remain in the center of the box.

Sand off the area that was drilled.

Now the following procedures aren't pictured... because I really got into the project...

3. Measure the thickness of the wall where you've drilled the hole
4. Clean the inside of the area where you've drilled the hole with a wet paper towel
5. Take the lens back cover and carefully place it in the hole to try the fit, sand paper if its too snug. Make sure that you mark the area where the lensback can accomodate the camera body cover
   
6. Carefully saw off the area marked
7. Sand down the lens back cover
8. Superglue the lens back cover to the drilled area; make sure to not push the lens back cover too far that you can't replace the the body cover.
9. Measure the inside of the box
10. With those measurements, mark the black foam to be cut for the interior of the box. You may need to adjust some measurements for the thickness of the foam.
11. Test the fitting of the foam in the box
12. Clean out inside the box with a paper towel
13. Mask the outside of the box and stuff the lens mount with a paper towel or a crumpled up piece of paper
14. Feel like you're almost done
15. Spray the interior of the box with the spray fixative
16. Spray the foam pieces with the spray fixative
17. Remove the piece of crumpled paper towel or crumpled paper
18. Carefully place the pieces of foam
19. Carefully place the foam pieces inside of the box
20. Spray the inside of the lid with black spraypaint or use a marker
21. Take the camera body cover, measure and mark the center of it
22. Make an indentation in the center of the outfacing part of the camera body cover
23. Carefully drill the center of the camera body cover
24. Shave and sand down the center of the hole
25. Take the aliminum can, cut off the lid and bottom of the can
26. With the circle template, mark a circle and cut it out
27. Using the needle, puncture the aluminum
28. Sand down the area of the puncture
29. (Realize that this is taking so many steps)
30. Using the black marker, black out the cut out, punctured aluminum
31. Affix the pinholed piece of aluminum to the inside of the camera body cover using superglue; make sure to center the pinhole to the camera body cover
32. TADA, You're done

Just realized, this post too long... don't read.

Use a piece of black tape to cover the hole and use it as a shutter, when mounting an SLR lens to it, use the lens cover as a shutter. You might want to measure the focal length required for your lens before using it. I created a removable back for my lens.

Now the next part of this project is to get some photo sensitive paper 4in by 5in, or make some cyanotypes using this cigar box camera.

Finally Processing Film

After weeks and weeks of planning and hesitation, I finally did it. Today I processed film. I mixed my own chemicals; I used Kodak's D-76 solution for the developer, getting the temerature just right was a pain. I felt like a chemist. Once I got everything together, I couldn't wait to try it out.

These are the tools...

Developer, fixer, and thermometer

A two jugs (one for the developer and fixer), some Kodak Photo-Flo solution, and lastly, the developer tank. I mixed everything up, in hopefully the right amounts... and I poured them into the containers.

I'll post the results on the photo blog soon. (P.S.: Last photo taken by Jason Slavin.)

"Pholkraphy"

I think that in any hobby or vocation, there must be a good community behind it to help foster talents and skills within each individuals. I can imagine myself learning from other people, or even others learning from me. For about a year, I've been wanting to be in a community of photographers. I think that it's such an integral part of growth for people to be in relationship with one another, moreover when they have a particular idea in mind.

Enter, "Pholkraphy," (Photo + Walk + Graph... basically a photo walk. I would pronounce it as Phol-crafy) This is project based off of relationships and community. I want to kick this off small with this poll to get quick feedback as to who's intrested among my friends and aquaintances. I'm hoping to organize a community of photographers to be able to share in this art. To pool ideas and collaborate.

But even in this project, I don't have a full vision of what it really is, or what it should be. I'm hoping that with this first event, we can maybe light a fire of fun and wonderment.

Tell me what you think. If you're interested in joining me in this project, visit the poll.

Morning Portraits in the Mountains and Donuts

A long time ago, my friends and I went up the mountain to just hang out. The air was crisp with the fragrance of the pine trees that surrounded us, the sky was partly cloudy and there was a gentle breeze. We spent some time up there and drove down to get some donuts.

I love impromptu portraits, I love the sincerity of who people are as they look at the camera, unprepared for it.

Matthew

Matt has a photoblog.

Andy

Kathleen

Jacque

Jacque is a photographer and she also has a website.

The Way the Light Cascaded Through the Leaves

I took this picture last year during my church's fall retreat. I could just remember the way the light cascaded through the leaves.

Fall has always been a beautiful experience for me. I can truly see and attribute such beauty to God. I could never capture the pure color of what I had seen that day, while processing the photos, I could imagine myself leaning and editing toward a bias of my ideals and how I perceived that day.

Emily's Graduation Photos

This is Emily. She is, for many reasons, beautiful. I took a series of portraits for her graduation.

On this last shot, I set the camera on timer, and I ran to her.

Byron's Senior Recital Photos

These are a few photos from a photoshoot I did for my good friend Byron Tomes. He was in need of photos for his senior recital and so, he asked me if I would be willing to take photos of him. Long story short, we hung out with Lauren, and took a bunch of photos. I did some post production work with the shots, and Lauren did some final typography.

This was my first photoshoot and I'm really glad I did it with a friend.

The final product was posters and postcards... this project was really all about Byron. He's such an amazing guitarist.

The final composition... see it with the typography at Lauren's Blog

One of my First Shots

I want to start things off with one of the first photos I've ever taken with a 35mm film camera. My first camera was a Canon Canonet QL17 I purchased from a 1hr photo place in Fullerton for around $40. You're probably wondering... "$40, for that?!" Well... at the time (2007), I didn't quite know what I was getting into with photography. I thought of it as a hobby I could just pick up, and my rational for getting this $40 grandapa for a camera was that I wanted to learn how to shoot carefully and learn photography with a more unforgiving device. At the time, to heed myself from spending too much money, I swore off anything digital, and I decided to purely shoot with film. This continued on for another year and a half before I bought my first digital SLR, which I still own and use today. This post is a bit sentimental (as I'm imagining, many of the future post might be this way).

Subject is Alain, my brother. He's in his old room playing a video game. I remember a time when my brother and I would just sit and he would play games as I acted as a spectator player... I would watch him play his games and cheer him on and suggest how to play the games. I'm really glad he was so patient with me. I always remembered that those times were fun, moreover in the conversations I had with him at those times.

Well, as it turns out, photography became something I wasn't just interested in, it was something I breathed. As I was playing around and experimenting with my aperture and shutterspeed, I began to understand what those things meant. I'm really glad that I was priveledged enough to have such an amazing experience with that camera.