Interview of Mr. Guy Glorieuxby
Zernike Au
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Q
- How long have you been involved with photography and pinhole
photography? A
– I’ve been fascinated by photography for as long as I can remember.
I built my first darkroom when I was 8
and I would read every photography book I could find at the local
public library. I used my
mother’s Voightlander camera since I couldn’t even think of using my
father’s Leica. I
discovered pinhole photography much more recently when attending a
workshop by Paris-based pinhole photographer Robert Mann 5 years ago and
I became totally taken by this form of creative expression.
I was already using vintage cameras because I much preferred the
soft feel of images produced with their lenses.
So it was an easy step to remove the lens altogether and replace
it with a tiny pinhole on a piece of brass shim. |
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Q
– What attracts you with pinhole photography? A
– I think that there is a fundamental beauty in pinhole photography
that modern lenses will never be able to capture and this is probably
why this form of picture-making is becoming increasingly popular, not
just with kids, but with a large spectrum of professional and amateur
photographers. Because of
their softness and infinite depth-of-field and because of the long time
exposures involved, pinhole images have a surreal beauty that no amount
of technology can produce. In
a strange way, camera technology has diverted the photographer away from
his inner-world creativity and pushed him into mechanical appropriations
of the outside world. During the past fifty years, camera makers
invested billions of dollars to create lenses with ever-increasing
sharpness and camera bodies that relieve the photographer from his task
behind the lens. But
these high-tech machines have lost touch with the fact that “vision”
involves far more than highest possible
“sharpness” and that “image creation” requires far more
than split-second exposure calculations or auto-focus zoom lenses.
Pinhole
photography goes in just the opposite direction. There is no viewfinder and only one setting on the camera –
the diameter of the pinhole. As
a result, the pinhole photographer has to build a mental image of what
he wants to create before he opens the shutter.
A tremendous amount
of random elements will also influence the final outcome but these can
be anticipated when you build a sort of instinctive, symbiotic
relationship with your camera. |
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Q
– Where did the idea come of converting a hotel room into a giant
pinhole camera? A – Some years ago, I saw the work of Canadian landscape photographer Robert Bourdeau at the Jane Corkin Gallery in Toronto. He works with an 11x14 camera and produces images of stunning beauty with an infinite amount of detail. This is when I became addicted to large format photography. As I was trying to decide on a significant project
to celebrate the 2nd Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day, I was
also enchanted by the project of Mr.
Shi Guo Rui to
transform one of the Watch Tower of the Great Wall of China into a giant
pinhole camera. It was therefore an easy step to think about
turning a hotel room into a “Camera Obscura” and create a giant
pinhole landscape of Montreal. The
Wyndham hotel was a choice location for this project.
From its windows, you have a unique view of the Montreal landscape
and particularly the Place des Arts, the Museum of Contemporary Arts, some
of the city’s skyscrapers and the Mont-Royal hill in the far.
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Q
– How many people will participate in your project? A
– Photography, and particularly pinhole photography is usually a
solitary activity. Through his camera, the photographer establishes a very
personal and intimate relationship with his subject matter. Ultimately, it is that relationship which becomes the essence
of the photograph. But
the Wyndham hotel project is not something that you can undertake as a
solitary activity. It
requires teamwork and coordination. We
are 4 photographers on the team at the moment and there may be others
joining us before April 28. But
I really also have to count the support of our sponsors, since the project
could not exist without their help. |
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Q
– What do you think about pinhole photography in Canada? A
– My involvement in the organization of the Worldwide Pinhole
Photography Day made me discover how much pinhole photography is active in
Canada. For instance, I
discovered that the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montreal recently had a very
popular series of workshops explaining to visitors the principle of
pinhole photography. I
won’t attempt to name all the significant professional photographers in
Canada involved with pinhole because the list would be much too long.
But that list would be very small compared to all the
non-professional anonymous photographers who are also engaged in this king
of photography. It
is for all these people that the Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day was
created. |
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Web Page designed and presented by Zero Image Co. Web page last
updated April 16, 2002 |
