Quick Shot: The Nothing Camera
Have you ever taken a picture with a camera that doesn't have a lens, shutter button, or any buttons? Have you ever taken a picture by sticking film in a wooden box and hoping to get lucky?
I can now answer yes to those questions. I can now say I have made a photograph with a nothing camera.
The nothing camera is often called a 'pinhole camera' because that best describe the lens, or lack thereof. The nothing camera is so simple and basic that the operating instructions are summed up with 'pray'. The nothing camera has no ISO, zoom, focus, or megapixels. You don't know what the camera may or may not be seeing. You guess the exposure. And if you guess right, you'll be rewarded with one of the most unique looking images.
I encourage you to click this image and view it full screen. Marvel at how not sharp it is. Marvel at how imperfect it is. Marvel at that vignetting. Take it all in folks, because it came from a wooden box. For all the time I spend obsessing over sharpness and lens distortion with my expensive Leica lenses, it's refreshing to shoot with a wooden box - a camera that couldn't be further from the technical perfection of all my other photographic machines.
I'll be talking more about the nothing camera and my experience using it in an upcoming post, but today I am starting by sharing an image from the nothing camera. This is a place called Durdle Door along England's Jurassic Coast - it's a popular photography spot. Of course, most photographers there are carrying a little bit more than a wooden box with a piece of film in it......