Baker's Dozen : A Pinhole Dialogue

What began as a trek through the woods towards Fairy Beach, with canned chairs atop the heads of her children, fusing the paths of two wellie-wearing women … Amy Rockett-Todd met Antonia Small on that rocky beach the summer of 2012.  As Jack, Antonia’s jack Russell, perched himself atop a nearby rock, the two discovered they were both ‘pinholers’.

 A chance meeting on a quiet empty slip of land, a stone's throw from Andrew Wyeth's childhood home "Eight Bells" ... on this beach which isn't even visible at high tide, the two found themselves stepping into a visual pinhole dialogue that would span almost 2000 miles and 13 months.

They began in April 2013, on Worldwide Pinhole Day, with their wooden Zero Image Cameras with 120 roll-film, shooting images specific to their own artistic visions as well as the contrasts of their varied regions – the flatlands of Oklahoma and the rugged coast of Maine.  Each image from both artists includes a backstory, a personal account of the experiences of discovery and image capture.  These backstories can be found alongside all 26 exhibition images within their 90 page book titled Baker’s Dozen : A Pinhole Dialogue, and can be purchased at TAC Gallery (9 E MB Brady, Tulsa OK) during the exhibition (April 1-30, 2016) or online at Blurb.com here:   

                    http://www.blurb.com/b/6943426-baker-s-dozen-a-pinhole-dialogue

What exactly is Pinhole Photography? … Pinhole photography is lensless photography. A tiny hole replaces the lens. As light passes through the hole; an image is formed onto film emulsion in the camera.

THE BIG PICTURE ...

"Anna" 3.5x4.5 ferrotype by Amy Rockett-Todd.

"Gathering Pieces" 3.5x4.5 ferrotype by Amy Rockett-Todd.

Several exciting opportunities presented themselves this Spring for my work! Two of my collodion portraits, "Anna" and "Gathering Pieces" were selected by Mark Sink for inclusion in THE BIG PICTURE during the MoP in Denver, Colorado.

THE BIG PICTURE ... at MoP - Month of Photography Denver is a biennial celebration of fine art photography with hundreds of collaborative public events throughout Denver and the region March and April 2015.  We are joining multiple museums galleries and schools surrounding fine art photography creating an exciting artistic and educational event for the city of Denver and the region.

My images will be enlarged to roughly 3 foot by 4 foot and wheat pasted onto buildings around the Denver, Colorado area.  As to the exact location, I am not sure yet, but I look forward to following THE BIG PICTURE facebook site to see images being pasted!  This year, the project has gone global with images being pasted in France, Australia and many more locations.  

To learn more, please visit: (highlight, copy and paste into your browser if links are not active).  You can also see more images as they are pasted in the facebook page of THE BIG PICTURE!

http://www.mopdenver.com/#/thebigpicture/

https://www.facebook.com/bigpicturedenver

Baker's Dozen : A Pinhole Dialog ...

Baker's Dozen : A Pinhole Dialog

What began as a trek through the woods towards Fairy Beach, with canned chairs atop the heads of her children, fusing the path of two wellie-wearing women… Amy Rockett-Todd met Antonia Small on that rocky beach the summer of 2012.   As Jack, Antonia’s jack russell, perched himself atop a nearby rock, the two discovered they were both “pinholers”.   A chance meeting on a quiet empty slip of land, which isn’t even visible at high tide, the two found themselves stepping into a pinhole dialog that would span almost 2000 miles and 13 months.  They began in April 2013, on Worldwide Pinhole Day, shooting images specific to their own artistic visions as well as the contrasts of their varied regions… the flatlands of Oklahoma and the rugged coast of Maine.  Their project shooting wrapped up on pinhole day, April 2014.  

Image pairings and an interview article by Kai Behrmann of Top Photography Films (topphotographyfilms.com) can be seen via the link below.  The two continue their pairings through the end of 2014.  Stay tuned for future image pairings.

http://www.topphotographyfilms.com/contemporary-photography/pinhole-photography-project-bakers-dozen/

The Backstory of Slow Tide ...

Slow Tide.  Amy Rockett-Todd 2012.

It's the backstories of images that get to me. This one is no different. The ending image is not the image that stays with me when I look at this one.  It's the image of my (then) 10 and 11 yr old children walking through quiet Maine pines with wooden chairs atop their heads, at times obscurred from my siteline ... legs, rungs, and spindles bobbing in the air down to the shoreline, the gentle lapping of tide growing louder.  Of youth going out.  And age coming in.

Reflecting ...

Under the bridge in Rockport, Maine - Maine Media Workshops - Wet Plate Collodion with Jill Enfield, Summer 2013

I've been shooting wet plate collodion images on tin and glass for 8 months, since my workshop at Maine Media Workshops ... and thought it would be a nice balance to do a bit of film processing since being so wrapped up in the collodion process.  I am about 10 rolls into processing (roughly 20 total, so far) and noticed a few pinhole frames I shot during my time at the workshop.  We were on-location under the bridge at the Rockport, Maine marina.  It was only our second on-location shoot and were testing what it is like to be away from the darkroom ... relying only on an ice fishing tent and/or a portable wooden darkbox as our darkroom for the day.