The last Sunday of April is always Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day and this year, for the second time in a row, I found myself in Scotland. I’d already planned to take two cameras around the dock area of Aberdeen, but the weather had other ideas.
Early this morning I gathered my two cameras together. My little half-frame Alfie TYCH+ was already loaded with Ilford XP2 film and I had six rolls of varying types ready to go into my faithful Ondu 6x6 camera. The forecast was for a reasonably dry morning, with heavy rain expected around lunchtime, so I set off soon after 8am to make the most of the best conditions.
Taking photos of the working docks proved all but impossible thanks to high metal railings, so I kept walking and ended up at the Footdee, known to the locals as the Fittie. These two squares of cottages were originally lived in by fishermen and are handily placed, close to the beach and the mouth of the River Dee. I made friends with a cat I found lounging in one of the gardens and, further on, was intrigued by a very well weathered clothes mangle, which I suspect hasn’t seen active service for many, many years.
Eventually I ended up at the seafront and took advantage of the low tide to get down onto the sand and capture some slow photos of the waves lapping the shoreline, and a view across the rocks to the harbour control tower. By this stage it had started to rain persistently so I took shelter with a cuppa at a small coffee cabin, while pondering the slightly bewildering sight of two horse boxes further along the promenade which had been turned into mobile saunas!
Finally I decided it was time to head back into town, where I at least had the option to seek proper shelter beneath something more substantial than the awning of a converted horse box. Having completed the first roll of film in my Ondu I switched to my Alfie TYCH for the return walk. A half frame camera brings much better value for money in terms of film used, as each roll of 36 frames will allow at least 72 photos in this format. This permits a greater feeling of spontaneity as you don’t feel each frame is costing quite as much money! This is the first time I’m shot the TYCH+ pinhole ‘lens’ in anger so who knows if the photos will work out as expected but I had fun nonetheless!
By the time I made it back to the main part of town it was 11am and raining heavily so I took this as my excuse to head to my favourite coffee shop to refuel both myself and my camera, as well as figuring out where I could spend the afternoon without being drowned!
My final destination was the city’s Art Gallery, which I explored with my digital camera earlier in the week. I knew it had some interesting spaces which might make effective pinhole photos but guessed, correctly as it happens, that tripods probably wouldn’t be permitted. Fortunately I had a backup plan and that was my little beanbag - very handy for wedging cameras on seats, railings and display cases!
It’ll be a few more days before I get to see the results of my day’s slow photography but I’m looking forward to getting a glimpse of the negatives once I’ve spent some time developing them over the kitchen sink. Naturally I’ll share the photos here when I’ve had a chance to scan them, but I thought you might at least like to see a glimpse behind the scenes in the meantime.
Photos taken 28 April 2024
