Pinhole Photography in the Classroom

Pinhole photography is photography without a lens. The camera can be made from almost any light proof container. A tiny hole replaces the lens. When the shutter is open, light passes through the hole; an image (negative) is formed inside the camera on photographic paper. The photograph must then be developed in a darkroom (or in my case... a large classroom storage cupboard with a blackout curtain and red lighting.)

I first learnt about pinhole photography in 2009 when I had a temporary position as an intermediate school specialist Art teacher. I was intrigued by the visual magic that the students and I could create in our little dark room using cameras made from coffee tins. A highlight of that year was our  pinhole exhibition entitled "Home and Belonging" which was held in a local city art gallery.

Since then I have returned to teaching in a 'mainstream' classroom but by setting up a tiny darkroom in a storage cupboard I have continued to explore and share the world 'through the pinhole' with my students.

All teachers are good at adapting topics or even their own interests to fit the curriculum. I have found that pinhole photography offers authentic learning experiences which students remember long after leaving my classroom.

Science:

•  The Physical World: Students learn about how light travels and behaves.
•  The Chemical World: Students observe and manage chemical reactions as they develop their own photographs.
• The Nature of Science: Success and failure, fair testing.

Maths:

• Measurement: building coffee tin cameras, cutting photographic paper to fit, timing and / or estimating exposure times

Literacy:

• Procedural (and other forms of) writing 

The students and I also enjoy using the combination of no-tech tin can cameras with scanners and computers to create a final image. Here's one example (negative) created by a 12 year old photographer:

Earlier this year I used Lulu.com to self-publish a book of my own pinhole images. You can view it here: http://www.lulu.com/shop/search.ep?keyWords=Karen+Hinge&categoryId=100501 It contains a selection of some of my own favourite images created over the last few years.

My self publishing experience was an interesting journey in itself, one I hope to travel again with my class sometime. But I think that's probably a whole separate blog post, best left for another day!