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

MANUS ... Oct 3 - 25, TAC Gallery Tulsa OK

Manus : Solo Exhibition at TAC Gallery (Tulsa Artists' Coalition) October 3 - 25, 2014  

Opening Oct 3 from 6-9.

Manus explores the relationships between the hand and technology fusing Rorschach-like imagery of architecture and flora, visually interjecting the hand as the conceptual spine of the work.  Weaving historical photographic processes with digital photographic processes of today,  Amy creates a dialogue between time with her abstracted collodion images.

TAC Gallery  9 East Mathew B. Brady St.  Tulsa,  OK  74103   www.tacgallery.org

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.

Don't Take Pictures ...

What an exciting Spring it has been!  It seems as though the first half of the year, I was knee deep into making images, processing, and minor post work ... with lots of what folks don't see ... all the "behind the scenes" type of work.  Organizing, ordering, chemical prep and mixing, storage, searching for opportunities, applying for various grants, volunteering with professional organizations, making connections ... and all the other tasks that can get in line BEFORE making more creative images!  All that work definitely pays off ... 

I am pleased to announce that my pinhole image "Slow Tide" was juried into the online gallery at Kat Kiernan's,  Don't Take Pictures!  Thrilled to be included along side many great pinholers ... Take a look:

Excerpt from the Pinhole Gallery at Don't Take Pictures:

A pinhole camera is a beautifully simple machine capable of rendering complex images. Photographers who choose to work with pinhole cameras are patient, often waiting minutes or hours or days for their images to be rendered through the pinprick in the front of their camera. More time still is spent processing the image, and due to the uncertainty of the camera and its many variables, the photograph may never appear at all. When it does, the reward is tremendous. Few pinhole cameras are the same. Each one’s unique qualities may distort or vignette the photograph in unexpected ways. Pinhole photographers embrace these challenges for the simplicity of the tools and the unexpected beauty of the photographs they produce.

Don’t Take Pictures strives to present photographers who are actively involved in the creative process of making photographs. Many photographers in this exhibition have made their own pinhole cameras. Those who use digital cameras with modified pinhole lenses are challenging the conventional qualities of tack-sharp digital images. Photographers from all over the globe submitted work for this exhibition, and we are pleased to showcase this diverse collection of the genre.      

This gallery will be on view through August 21.

http://www.donttakepictures.com/gallery-pinhole/

Please visit the online gallery at Don't Take Pictures to view the images juried into the exhibit.