Low-tech Magazine

The pinhole camera: low-tech photography

Build a pinhole camera, turn your bedroom into a camera obscura, and rediscover photography. 

With the arrival of digital photography, the camera has joined the ranks of fast aging devices. Just as is the case with mobile phones, a 3 years old digital camera is hardly worth anything anymore. It might be useful to remember that a camera is nothing more than a darkened box with a small opening and a shutter, as demonstrated by the pinhole camera. In many senses, this device is the very opposite of the latest digital cameras.

© Picture: Liquid lucidity

Photoshop in the early 20th century

At the beginning of the 20th century some clever photographers specialized in Photoshop before the term existed, faking postcards from mainly rural communities. Images of oversized vegetables, fruits and animals created a utopian myth about a town or region and served as a way of encouraging settlement and population growth. Some noteworthy collections of these so-called "Tall Tale Postcards" can be found here (Wisconsin Historical Society) and here (American Museum of Photography). Update: Things magazine has found another weird example of postcard manipulation.

The end for Polaroid

Polaroid, the company that gave the world instant film photography,  will shut down its film factory lines in the US, the Netherlands and Mexico. The forerunner of the digital photo camera was invented in 1948 and reached its popularity peak in the early nineties. Polaroid has already halted production of instant camera's about one year ago. The production of film rolls will end this year. (Via Boston Globe) (Picture: Polaroid set by Yosigo). Update: the website Polanoid is building the biggest Polaroid picture collection online. Related: the pinhole camera.

The digital oubliette

Chances are slim your children will be able to enjoy the family photo album when they grow up.

Nowadays family pictures, writings and home movies are stored on digital media, under the impression that this personal information will be accessible for a lifetime. However, this is not self-evident.

To guarantee the accessibility in the not even so far future, digital data requires active and regular maintenance – contrary to the archiving of analogue media.

Even though this constitutes a large challenge for libraries, for them the problem is not insurmountable. But in everyday life, a lot of personal information is in peril of getting lost.