I did a little bit of digging around and thought I should share my findings. His major project was called Open Shutter and the idea was to take photographs of the MoMa (Museum of Modern Art) in New-York, while it was being renovated, and leaving the shutter open for two whole years (He did one of three years!!). When I first read this, I didn’t believe it, but after reading a little more about it, I uncovered a whole new field of photography I didn’t really know existed: Pinhole photography. Apparently, you can take photos were you essentially leave the shutter open for 2 to 3 years long (i.e. take the f-stop to ridiculous levels — f1120).

Here are a couple of interesting links to explore the subject:

• Michael Wesely’s official website (Warning – boring site! Unfortunately…)
• MoMa’s Exhibition description
• Pinhole Photography’s history from photo.net

That last link shows how you can get the equivalent of a f-stop of 1120!!! Incredible when you think that my little camera can only take f32 or so…

Now, here are the two photos that really captivated me in the first place. Hope you like them!

You can see the flower in all of its stages. I imagine that the photo spans a couple of weeks so that we can see the evolution of its life. Super cool!

I love the almost phantom like feeling of the MoMa building…

Hope you enjoy this mid-week post. Stay tuned for next week as I have something very special prepared you guys and gals! I’m pretty happy with the result so far!

Cheers,

Silky Sheet

Smoke Bird

Smoke Jelly Fish

Inverted Smoky Beast

Inverted Flowing Silky Smoke

Don’t read this. It’s something I need to put on my site once for technorati: MJW5Q72QJVHC.

I started this week with two great ideas for my “Photo Monday” and I had even started to share some of them with people. Unfortunately, there were some unexpected problems (missing one very important piece of equipment – a telescope mirror) and so I opted for a slightly simpler project for this week’s shoot. I am not disappointed. I think it’s even cooler than what I had planned!! I will get to the other ideas eventually…

Perhaps you guessed it from the title; I decided to shoot smoke. Shooting smoke is amazing because the subject is so unpredictable that every photo is a surprise. For that same reason, it’s very hard to decide when to stop because you know that every shot will be unique. I really enjoyed this week’s challenge. I might try it again on another day. Alright, here they are, my shots of smoke.

This one is almost scary. It looks like a beast is roaring.

This smoke shot is Bonnie’s favourite. It really does look like silk or flowing mercury.

I just had to include this swirl one. I love the way the smoke made a perfect swirl at the top right.

I like this one. It really has a lot of details and very interesting shapes.

As always, the shots are available on flickr in much bigger sizes! You can simply click on your favourite photo and it’ll take you there! If you like those shots, make sure you check out the Part II of this series, including some post-processed shots.

Julius Shulman (born October 10, 1910) is an American architectural photographer best known for his photograph “Case Study House #22, Los Angeles, 1960″ (seen bellow).

Visit the official website to find out when and where they will be. All I know is that they are part of the 27th International Festival of Films on Art held in Montreal from March 19 to 29, 2009. They will be showing the movie at the Canadian Centre for Architecture at 4pm. Get a sneak peek from youtube here. In the meantime, get inspired by looking at the shots that made Julius Shulman so famous: