Our club members are a varied bunch. At one end of the spectrum are the street photographers who dance along capturing 1/500th second slices of reality. At the other end there’s Ben Altmann, on his own so far, but not for long. Ben sent me the image above which was exposed for 31 days!

The other interesting thing about Ben is that he’s started manufacturing large format cameras, right inside the City of London. Ben’s latest camera is pictured below. Note the sturdy tripod.

Welcome to the Art of Solargraphy!

Solargraphs are pinhole photographs taken on printing paper with extremely long exposures. They capture the invisible movements of the sun across landscapes.

Ben sent me a very detailed account of his technique, which is here, and well worth reading.

Briefly, this is what you do:

Make a (robust) pinhole camera using a piece of aluminum foil with a tiny pinhole in it for the “lens”. Place it outside and expose onto printing paper for about a week. In the dark, take out the paper and scan it (without processing it).

I’m very grateful to Ben for taking the time to explain all this. Watch this space - because I’m going to give it a go. Maybe you will too!

Ben recommends this website.

Alan Tucker